A Mad Man and his bigger on the inside Blue Box
by crazhetalia
Summary: London has always been an unusual place, you leave behind the one full of magic and step into the one with a Mad Man. If you want a quiet life full of tea and crumpets, I suggest staying away from them, especially the ones with a Blue Box. Fem!Harry
1. Preface

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or Harry Potter, but I wish I did.

Paring: 9, 10, 11, & 12 Doctor/Jessamine Tyler (Fem!Harry)

JPDW

London has always been an unusual place, you leave behind the one full of magic and step into the one with a Mad Man. If you want a quiet life full of tea and crumpets, I suggest staying away from them, especially the ones with a Blue Box. But me and my luck, I just so happen upon the mad man of all mad men who took my hand and said "run". Well, so much for tea and crumpets. But this man, the mad man with the bigger on the inside blue box, is the best thing that has ever happened to me. He's unusual, yes, but caring. I will never regret running that night.

JPDW

Arthur note: Yeah! New story! I hope you all enjoy it and please leave a review. Thank you very much! I'm working on the 25 (I think?) chapter for A2A & M2M (Ashes to Ashes and Memories to Memories), hopefully I'll have that done by the end of this week. I'm super busy because I'm packing and moving to Deerfield, IL to nanny a 12 and 8 year old girls in 22 days, so I'll try to update as much as possible! Ta, for now!


	2. Jessamine

"Good morning, Rose." I waved to her from my spot at the cash register.

"Morning, Jessa!" she waved back and started to fold the loose shirts on a display that was close to the register I was working at. "So, how was the date with that Ben fellow?" I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"It was . . . okay, I guess." I started checking out a customer before she could reply back but doesn't mean she won't forget. After the customer left, she bombarded me with her curiosity.

"What do you mean by okay? I thought you two looked lovely together."

"What I mean was that he was boring and only talked about himself and how he was so successful, that I should feel lucky that he wanted to date a "common girl" like me." I looked over my shoulder, my grass green eyes connecting with her light brown. "So I popped him in the mouth and went home." Smirking when I heard her snickering.

Hours had pass by and it was time to close the store. Rose and I were finishing up folding some shirts, when the security guard came to me and hands me a package.

"I can go with you, Jessa, if you want?" Rose asked me with concern in her eyes.

"I'll be fine. You go on home and I'll meet you there." I walk over to the lift and enter it. I left the lift once it arrived in the basement.

"Wilson?" I go further down the corridor. _'Maybe I should of had Rose come with me.'_ "Wilson, I've got the lottery money. Wilson?" I knock on the door with HP Wilson CEO on it. "You there? Look, they're closing the shop and I need to get home. Wilson!" there was a sudden nosie further down the corridor. I turned my head in the direction it had come from in curiosity. _'Curiosity killed the cat, Jessamine.'_ The little voice in the back of my head said to me, "Yeah, and satisfaction brought it back." Was my reply to it.

"Hello? Wilson, its Jessamine." I stopped outside a fire door for a moment, I open it and find myself in a room that's used to store shop dummies. I turn on the lights and walk further into the room. "Wilson!" I was getting aggravated. I try another door at the side. The fire door I entered closed abruptly. I sighed at myself, _'This is like all the horror movies show you what not to do.'_ Behind me, a dummy turns its head on its own accord, I turn around just in time to see it step out of its alcove and towards me. I don't move and just watch it. The dummy is soon join by two more. I finally start moving when all of the dummies are alive. I tripped over a box and quickly pulled myself up again. I'm about to pull my wand out when a hand grabs mine. I snap my head to look at the owner of the hand.

"Run."

We began to run, just in time, through a fire exit. The dummies are in pursuit. The mysterious man leads me into a lift, _'Yet another tip the horror movies tell you what not to do.'_ The doors close on one of the dummy's arms. The man pulls it off and the doors close. I looked over to the man in shock.

"You pulled his arm off . . . your mad!" I said backing away from him.

"Yep!" I have no idea if he was agreeing to the first part or the second part of what I said to him. He toss the arm to me, I catch it on insists and look at it, "Plastic."

"So it's not a trick? How did they come to life then?" I asked my curiosity getting the better of me again. The man grins at me, making me think that he likes me and my questions.

"Very good questions. Well done."

"Thanks?" It sound more like a question then anything else. "Well whatever they are, Wilson going to call the police, once he finds them that is."

"Who's Wilson?"

"Chief electrician." I answered to him.

"Wilson's dead." He steps out of the lift. I follow him. "Really? That's too bad." I said indifferently.

"Hold on!" he pushes me to the side. "Mind your eyes." He points what looks like a screwdriver at the lift, making it spark.

"I've had enough now." I muttered and walked after the man. "Who are you? And what were those things down there? Please, answer me!" I was getting aggravated again.

"They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof. Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He shows me an electronic device, "So!" he opens a fire exit for me. "I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process." That made me freeze up in my spot, "But don't worry about me, no. Go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast." I made a face at the mention food, I began to walk through the door before stopping and turning to look at the man. "You're a mad man but a brave one, don't have much of those lately." I kissed him on the cheek, "Good luck, madman." I walked the rest of the way.

"Thank you. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed." He shuts the door. I turn away and start to walk away. I don't get very far before the door opens again. "I'm the Doctor, by the way, what's your name?"

"Jessamine." I said with a light smile to him.

"Nice to meet you, Jessamine. Run for your life." He shuts the door again and I began to run. Outside, nobody knows what's going on. I'm so distracted that I nearly get run over by a taxi.

"Watch it!"

I proceed to get as far away from the building as possible and look back just in time to see the top floor blow up. I gasp and run home – pasting a blue police box.

JPTD

News 24 is on the telly. Rose and I sat on the sofa, watching it.

"The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire. Earlier reports in the. . ."

The dummy's arm is lying on a chair. Mum walks in holding a phone to her ear.

"I know, it's on the telly! It's everywhere! She's lucky to be alive!" she hands me a mug of tea, I take it with a soft smile to her. "Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was HER daughter! Oh and here's himself . . ." I turn to see Mickey appear in the doorway and rolled my eyes and went over to Mum to get away from the couple, sipping my tea.

"I've been phoning your mobile, you could've been dead! It's on the news and everything! I can't believe that your shop went up!" I scoffed at him and send him a glare. He hugs Rose.

"I'm alright! I wasn't even there when it went up. It was Jessa that was there when it happen. She was shaking so bad last night, didn't sleep a wink!" Rose turned to me with concern written over face. Mickey turned to me, now with the same amount of concern.

"Well, what happened?" I shrugged at him, "Dunno."

"What was it though, what caused it?" I sighed. "I wasn't in the shop, I was outside, and I didn't see anything but the roof get blown off." Mum walks back in, "It's Debbie on the other end, and she knows a man from the Mirror – five hundred quid for an interview!" I turned to her with my hand out.

"Oh that's brilliant! Give it here!" I take the phone and hang it up. "Well, you've gotta find some way of making money. Your jobs kaput and I'm not bailing you out." The phone rings again and she answers it. "Beth! She's alive!" I rolled my eyes at her as she leaves the room, "I tell ya, sue for compensation! She was within seconds of death. . ."

"What're you drinking? Tea? No, no no, that's no good, that's no good. You're in shock, you need something stronger." He takes my honey sweeten peppermint tea out of my hands. "Why?" I growled out.

"You deserve a proper drink, you, Rose and me, we're going down the pub, my treat. How about it?" I took my tea back and shook my head, I hated alcohol. Rose gets up from the couch, smiling at Mickey.

"Is there a match on?" he turns to look at her, "I'm just thinking about you, Babe!"

"There's a match on." I said sitting back on the couch.

"Well, that's not the point. We could catch the last five minutes." I shook my head. "Go on then. We're fine, really. Go. Get rid of that. . ." She gestures to the dummy arm I brought home. Mickey points to his lips and Rose gives him a kiss, I make loud gagging sounds at them, making them roll their eyes. He pushes her back onto the chair and they laugh. He gets up to go and Rose puts a leg out to trip him. Mickey picks up the arm and waves with it.

"Buh Bye!"

"Bye!" Rose and I said at the same time. Mickey pretends to strangle himself with the arm and leaves. We both shake our heads fondly and turn our attention back to the news.

". . . fire then spread throughout the store . . . there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure. . ."

JPTD

Rose and I were having breakfast, listening to mum talk about new jobs.

"There's Finches . . . you could try them. They've always got jobs." I gagged on the piece of toast I was eating. "No, thanks." I said after drinking some of my tea.

"Oh, great. The butchers."

"Well it might do you both some good. That shop was giving you airs and graces. And I'm not joking about getting compensation – Jessa, you had genuine shock and trauma! Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek! I know she IS Greek, but that's not the point – it's a valid claim." I rolled my eyes and began to hear rattling, I stood up and walked over to the front door.

"Mum, you're such a liar, I told you to nail that cat flap down. We're going to get strays!"

"I did it weeks back!"

"No, you thought about it." I muttered to myself. I raise an eyebrow when I discover the screws on the floor. The cat flap moves violently. I jerked back, I moved my hand and poked the cat flap open gingerly. The Doctor's face is right outside it. "What?!" I open the door.

"What're you doing here?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "I live here."

"Well, what do you do that for?"

"Why do we do anything, really? I'm home because I've no job to go to right now." The Doctor gets out that screwdriver thingy again.

"Must've got the wrong signal. You're not plastic, are you?" he knocks on my forehead. "No, bonehead. Bye, then!" he makes to go, but I pull him back inside.

"You, inside. Right now." I shut the door.

"Who is it?" I heard mum's voice from her room. I poke my head into her bedroom. "It's about last night, he's part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes, mum." I left him there to go talk to Rose for a minute.

"She deserves compensation."

"Huh, we're talking millions." The doctor leans against the doorframe, waiting for me to come back. Mum looks at him for a moment and stands up, flirtatiously.

"I'm in my dressing gown."

"Yes, you are."

"There's a strange man in my bedroom."

"Yes, there is."

"Well, anything could happen." I got there in time to hear the Doctor's answer.

"No." the Doctor walk off to the living room, with mum pulling a face at his back. I giggled softly to myself earning a wink from the Doctor.

"Don't mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?"

"Might as well, thanks! Just milk." I was about to go make it when Rose popped up from the couch. "I'll make it, Jessa." I nodded my head in thanks.

"So I'm guessing calling the police is out of the question?" I asked as the Doctor picks up a gossip magazine.

"That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien." I sighed "Umm… Doctor? What do we need to do?" I asked again. The Doctor picks up a book and flicks through it.

"Sad ending." I sat back on the couch with a frown, "I happen to like sad endings." The Doctor still ignoring me, picks up an envelope and reads it.

"Jessamine Tyler." I perked up when he said my name. He turns to look in the mirror. "Ahh, could've been worse!" he prods his large ears. "Look at me' ears."

"You could fly with those things, like Dumbo." I mumbled. The Doctor shuffles a pick of cards. "Luck be a lady!"

"Oh god, please don't sing." I put my faces in my hands, watching him through the cracks of my fingers. He shuffles the cards again and manages to make them all go flying. I began to snicker at him. "Maybe not." I, then, hear scuffling from behind my seat on the sofa. I jumped up and away from it. "What's that then? You got a cat?"

"No." I told him. I watch as the Doctor leans behind the sofa and the dummy's arm leaps out and grabs him by the neck. I began to help him from being strangle to death by the hand. We finally got it off and it attached to my face, I gasp in shock. The Doctor leaps up and tries to pull it off. We crash onto the coffee table, breaking it, and roll onto the floor. The Doctor pushes me back onto the sofa and gets out that screwdriver and disabled the hand.

"It's alright, I've stopped it. There you go, you see?" he tosses it at me. "'Armless."

"Do you think?" I use it to whack him hard on the shoulder. "Ow!" Rose comes running out of the kitchen. "Jessa! Are you okay?"

"Fine, Rose." I then notice that the Doctor has left. I run out of the flat with Rose behind me. He's running down the stairs with us on his tail. Rose finally speaks up about the situation,

"Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off."

"Yes I can. Here I am, this is me, swanning off. See ya." I stopped a few steps behind him and turn to Rose.

"Rose, maybe we should listen to him, he seems to know what he's doing." The look she gave me basically said she wasn't going to drop it.

"That arm was moving, it tried to kill Jessa!" I sighed at her, I was fine.

"Ten out of ten for observation." Well, he sure is rude.

"You can't just walk away, that's not fair! You've got to tell us what's going on."

"No I don't." we reached the bottom of the stairs, and go through the doors.

"Alright then. We'll go to the police. We'll tell everyone. You told Jessa, if she did that, she'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell us, or we'll start talking." I turned to look at her in horror at what she just said. "Rose, I . . . why would you say that?" she and the Doctor turn to look at me, "I won't be the cause for any more deaths, Rose. So drop it!" I finished off in a yell at her. I turned to the so called Doctor, now extremely pissed off. "Who the hell are you?!" my hands clinch into fists.

"I told you! The Doctor!" I could tell he was just as angry as I was from what Rose said.

"Yeah. But Doctor what?" Rose asked, "More like Doctor Who." I scoffed at her.

"Just the Doctor." He was calming down, smiling at what I said.

"The Doctor." Rose stated dryly.

"Hello!" boy, was this man bipolar or something.

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" Rose said snidely to him.

"Sort of." The Doctor shrugged seeming a bit stung at what Rose said. I stepped over to him with my hand out to him, "Well, if it's any consultation I find it impressive. It's nice to meet you, Doctor. I'm Jessamine Tyler and the blonde is Rose Tyler, my little sister." He shook hands with me, "Nice to properly meet you, Jessamine." Rose budges in between us bring the attention to her, "Come on. You can tell us. She's seen an enough. Are you the police?"

"No. I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home." That made me turn a questioning glance at him.

"But what has she done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after her?" the Doctor turned on me with a sneer on his face.

"Oh! Suddenly the entire world revolves around you! You were just an accident, you got in the way, that's all." I jerked my head back as if he slapped me. Rose looked ready to slap him, "It tried to kill her!"

"It was after me, not her! Last night, in the shop, I was there, she blundered it. Almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down . . . the only reason it fixed on her is that she met me." That's when I pushed Rose out of the way with an angry look on my face.

"So, what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you." I put my hands on my hips, frown upon my face.

"Sort of, yeah."

"You're so full of it!" I hissed out.

"Sort of, yeah." I stared at him for a minute, then closed my eyes and sighed. I open my eyes and take the arm off him. "Okay, start from the beginning, please."

JPTD

"If you're gonna go with this living plastic, and we don't even believe that, but if we do . . . how did you kill it?" she looked over to me, "Jessa? You don't believe this right?" I looked up from the ground.

"Well, yeah I do. I mean, I had an army of shop dummies after me and then one of their arms attacked me, so yeah, I trust what the Doctor is saying is true." the Doctor smiled at me, I just nod my head back in reply.

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead."

"So that's radio control?" I sighed at her, "No, Rose, it's thought control." there was an awkward silence after that.

"Are you alright, Jessamine?" I nodded not looking at him but out to the sky daydreaming of what was beyond the cloudy, gray sky, missing his frown. "Yeah. So, who's controlling it, then?" I ask as an afterthought.

"Long story." he supplied me, I looked over to him, seeing his look, and I sighed and looked back to the sky. "Really though, Doctor. Tell me - who are you?" I turned my whole body to him, as he stopped walking.

"Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?" he walks back to me, as I was closest. "It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like its standing still. I can feel it." he takes my hand in his, "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go . . ." he lets go of my hand. "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Jessamine Tyler." He takes the arm and waves it in my face. "Go home."

He walks away. I watch his retreating back and then start to walk backwards to Rose, still watching the Doctor. The Doctor steps into a blue police box. I stare with wide eyes as I watch the box disappear with a loud sound.

JPTD

Rose took me to Mickey's flat. Mickey lets us in.

"Yahey, there's my women!" he slaps Rose bum. "Kit off!" I made a disgusted face at him.

"I'm not your woman." I grumbled at him, not wanting to be here in the first place.

"Shut up." Mickey gives her a kiss, "Mwah!"

"Ugh!" I stuffed my head into my arms. "Coffee?" Mickey asked us.

"Yeah, only if you wash the mug. And I don't mean rinse, I mean wash. Can I use your computer?"

"No, I don't like coffee and you know that, Rickey." He glared at me. "Yeah. Any excuse to get in the bedroom." Mickey goes into the kitchen. Rose takes me by the arm and drags me into his bedroom and closes the door behind us.

"Don't read my emails!"

JPTD

Rose turns on his computer. I watch from behind her shoulder as she types in "Doctor" into the search engine. "Rose, what are you doing?" I asked her, as no relevant results are found. She types in "Doctor Living Plastic". There's still nothing. "Rose, he said to leave him be." I told her but she ignored me. She types "Doctor Blue Box". The first result reads "Doctor Who – do you know this man? Contact Clive here . . ."

"Rose! We're not supposed to tell anyone about him!" she clicks on "Contact Clive" ignoring me again. Clive's name shows up in my mind onto the list, the list of the to die.

JPTD

Mickey, Rose, and I sat in the car, with me being force to listen to them bicker at each other.

"You're not coming in! He's safe, he's got a wife and kids." Rose said to Mickey.

"Yeah but who told you that? He did. That's exactly what an Internet lunatic murderer would say." I fully agreed with him on this, but Rose got out of the car anyway, grinning, forcing me out of the car. Mickey didn't look too happy and gives a man putting out his rubbish the evils. Rose knocks on the door of the house and it's answered by a boy of about eleven, I say.

"Uh, hello, we've come to see Clive? We've been emailing." I said to the boy.

"Dad! It's two of your nutters!" our eyes widening in shock at the boy, who we now know is Clive's son. Clive appears behind him.

"Sorry. Hello. You must be Rose and Jessa. I'm Clive. Obviously!" we shook hands with him and as I did, I claimed his soul as collected.

"I better tell you now – my boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case you're going to kill us!" we laughed.

"No, good point. No murders." He waves to Mickey who nods, still distrustful, as he should be.

"Who is it?" we all turn our heads to the stairs.

"Oh it's something to do with the Doctor! They've been reading the website. Please come through, I'm in the shed." I stared at him in shock, _'The shed!'_ Clive's wife, Caroline, came down the stairs carrying a washing basket.

"They? They read a website about the Doctor? They is two girls?" she smiles ironically and shuts the door. Mickey looks suspicious.

JPTD

Clive shows us around the shed, which is short of a shrine to the Doctor, which isn't creepy at all.

"A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive, I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept it, if you know what I mean. If you dig deep enough - keep a lively mind - this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories. Even ghost stories. No first name, no last name. Just 'The Doctor'. Always The Doctor. And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son, it appears to be an inheritance. That's your Doctor there, isn't it?" he points to a photo of the Doctor on a computer screen behind us.

"Yeah." I said softly.

"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original . . ." he shows us some photographs of the Doctor standing in a crowd. "November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy." I looked at it in unbelievable shock. It was the same man straight down to his Dumbo ears.

"Must be his father. . ." Rose said to Clive.

"Going further back . . . April 1912." He brings over a photo album. "This is a photo of the Daniels family, Southampton. And friend." He points to the Doctor, standing with them. "This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World. On the Titanic. And for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And . . ." he shows us a sketch. "1883. Another Doctor. And look the same lineage. He's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He has a storm in his wake. And he has one constant companion." I looked over to Clive.

"Who's that?" Rose asked him.

"Death." Clive and I said in unison. He turns to look at me.

"If the Doctor's back . . . if you've seen him, Jessa . . . then one thing's for certain – we're all in danger. If he's singled you out . . . if the Doctor's making house calls . . . then God help you." I back away from him, moving closer to Rose.

"Who is he? Who do you think he is?" Rose asked him as she took my hand.

"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world."

JPTD

Rose and I came back to the car, she started talking before she's even got in.

"Alright! He's a nutter! Off his head! COMPLETE online conspiracy freak. You win! Oof." We get into the car. I started to notice that the person sitting at the wheel isn't Mickey and that it looks like a plastic replica of him. Rose seems not to take any notice. So I stay quiet until I'm needed.

"What're going to do tonight? I fancy a pizza." Rose spoke up, looking at me from the review mirror.

"Pizzaaa! P-p-p-pizza!" the not-Mickey sputtered, I looked at it wearily.

". . . or Chinese . . ." I said to Rose not looking away from not-Mickey.

"Pizza!" not-Mickey yelled and drove off in a wobbly line.

JPTD

Rose, not-Mickey, and I sat at a table for three in a restaurant. Rose was being Rose, talking about herself.

"Do you think I should try the hospital? Suki said they had a few jobs going in the canteen. That's it then . . . dishing out chips . . . I could do A levels . . ." not-Mickey stares at me, grinning. "I dunno. It's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left school because of him, and look where he ended up. What do you think?"

"So, where did you meet this Doctor?" not-Mickey asked me. I stared at him, blankly.

"I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about me for a second?" I rolled my eyes at Rose's attitude.

"Because, I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? Is he something to do with that?" he was still looking at me.

"No . . ." I shook my head.

"Come on." I shook my head again, now feeling a bit of fear for the not-Mickey. "What was he doing there?"

"We're not going on about him, Mickey, I'm not, because I know it sounds daft but . . . I don't think he's safe. I think he's dangerous." I snapped my head to look at Rose, with a raised eyebrow. _'Really? Now she starts believing that he's dangerous.'_

"But you can trust me sweetheart!" then in quick succession, "Babe, sugar, darling, sugar." Rose looked confused while I looked horrified. "You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Rose and Jessa. Because that's all I really wanna do, sweetheart, babe, sugar, sweetheart."

"What're you doing that for?" Rose asked not-Mickey. The thing looked at me again, making me back away from it. I heard someone approach our table. I looked around to find the Doctor, I smiled at him softly as he brought a finger to his lip, telling me to stay quiet. I nodded my head very lightly.

"Your champagne."

"We didn't order any champagne." Not-Mickey grabs my hand, making me jerk back. "Where's the Doctor, Jessa?" I watch as the Doctor simply moved to my side of the table, a frown on his face and holds the bottle out to me.

"Ma'am. Your champagne." I stared at him, then looked back to not-Mickey, trying to get my hand out of its grip. "Let go, Mickey!"

"It's not ours . . . Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?" Rose stared at not-Mickey in concern, I huffed at her. '_Yeah, be concern for the thing that's hurting me, love you too Rose'_

"I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?" I kept jerking my hand, trying to get away.

"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" not-Mickey raises his eyes to the Doctor for the first time in exasperation.

"Look, we didn't order i—" he realize that the waiter is the Doctor, "Ah. Gotcha." The Doctor shakes the bottle.

"Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!" the cork pops out and hits not-Mickey squarely on the forehead. His forehead absorbs the cork and he spits it out of his mouth. It's finally revealed to Rose that Mickey has been replaced with not-Mickey.

"That's gross!" I said in disgusted at the thing.

"Anyway." His hands turn into clubs, making my hand free, and he smashes the table. Rose screams and runs out of the building. I jump away from the thing as the Doctor grabs not-Mickey's head and pulls it off. "Don't think that's gonna stop me." A couple at a nearby table scream, but the Doctor grins. I press the fire bell.

"Everyone out! Out now!" I yelled. Everyone runs for the exit. The thing stays inside, blindly smashing tables with his club – hands. "Get out! Get out! Get out!"

The Doctor and I run through the kitchen and out of the back exit. With not-Mickey in hot pursuit, the Doctor locks a metal door with his screwdriver thingy while I wait for the Doctor to explain what was going on.

"What is that? In your hand?" I asked him looking at it.

"What, this? This is a sonic screwdriver." I looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Sonic screwdriver? Who in the world would ever think that a screwdriver could be a bit more sonic?" I followed him into a police box in the middle of the yard. The Doctor shuts the door behind me as I stared in awe. I continued to walk forward, walking around everything, feeling everything that I thought safe enough to touch, and just staring in awe and happiness. I found the Doctor staring at me while he was wiring up not-Mickey's head.

"You see, the arm is too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right." He turns to me, giving me his full attention. "Where do you want to start?"

"Is it magic? Are you a wizard?" I asked in hope that he was or that this was indeed magic. His look became confused, "No and no." I felt my face drop. I looked around.

"Then how is it bigger on the inside then the outside without magic . . . oh, its alien isn't it?" I asked as I turned back to him.

"Yup!"

"So that means you're an alien?" I asked moving closer to him, he beamed a smile at me.

"Yes. Is that alright?" he asked. I nodded my head with a bright smile.

"Yes, so what do you call this? She gorgeous!" I moved to look at the controls when I felt a warm hum in my head, I turned my head looking for the source of the humming.

"It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." I glance at the head.

"So did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?" I asked him, now a bit freaked out, especially with the humming still going through my head now that I realize it's not coming from the Doctor.

"Oh . . . didn't think of that." I made a 'really' face at him.

"He's my best friend, Rose's boyfriend. You pulled off his head – they copied him and you didn't even think? And now you're just going to let him melt?" I said looking at the head again, the humming soothing me, making me calm.

"Melt?" he turns around in time to see not-Mickey's head melting with a bubbling nosie. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Oh, no no no no no NO!" he starts running frantically around the console, pressing buttons and pulling levers. The humming started to sound annoyed as the Doctor did this.

"What are you doing?" I asked staying out of his way.

"Reviving the signal, it's fading! Wait I've got it . . ." he looks at the screen, "No No No No No No NO!" the TARDIS shakes as the engines move, I graded onto the railing. "Almost there! Almost there! Here we go!" the engines stop and the Doctor runs out of the TARDIS doors without another word, I follow him outside. "I lost the signal, I got so close."

I hop out of the TARDIS, looking around confused.

"We moved? How?" I asked looking back to the TARDIS.

"Disappears there, reappears here, you wouldn't understand." I turn to look at him, an indignant look on my face.

"Oi, I'm not stupid like everyone else on the godforsaken planet! You rude, pompous, bugger!" he turned around looking at me in shock. I cross my arms and looked away. "I'm going to have to tell Rose." The Doctor looks at me questioningly. "Mickey. I have to tell his girlfriend he's dead and you just went and forgot about him, again!" the Doctor rolls his eyes, unconcerned. "I can't believe I stuck up for you." I shook my head and turned to walk away.

"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey-"

"Yeah, he's not a kid." I interrupted him, not looking back.

"It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?" I turned back to him, "Alright." I said agreeing.

"Yes! It is!" I shake my head in disbelief at him.

"Why do you sound like you're from the North?"

"Lots of plants have a North." He folds his arms indignantly and looks away. I giggled softly at him.

"So why a 1950 police public call box?" I ask stuffing my hands into my sweater pockets. The Doctor snaps his head back to me in shock again.

"You really are smart aren't you, very good at asking the right questions." He pats the TARDIS fondly, grinning. The humming sounds like it was purring like a kitten. "It's a disguise." I smile and shake my head.

"Okay, this plastic thing, what's it got against us?" I asked leaning against the TARDIS.

"Nothing, it loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air . . . perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth . . . dinner!" I sent him a questioning look when he mention a war, I wanted to ask but thought better of it.

"Any way of stopping it?" I asked instead. Grinning, the Doctor produces a tube of blue liquid from his jacket.

"Anti-plastic!"

"Anti-plastic?"

"Anti-plastic! But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?"

"Hide what?"

"The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal." I started to look around.

"What's it look like?" I asked looking back to him.

"Like a transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London." He starts to pace around, agitated, looking for a clue. "A huge circular metal structure . . . like a dish . . ." he stands facing me, his back to the railings of the bridge. Behind him, the London eye looms 450 feet above us, but he doesn't seem to register it. ". . . like a wheel. Close to where we're standing. Must be COMPLETELY invisible." I snorted at that and looked behind him to the Eye. "What?" I nod towards the Eye. The Doctor turns around, then back to me, completely nonplussed. "What?" I shake my head, still looking at the Eye. He turns around but still fails to make the connection. "What is it? What?" I simply carry on staring at it. The Doctor turns around again and finally, it clicks. "Oh . . . fantastic!" he grins insanely, takes my hand and we're running off.

JPTD

Hand in hand, the Doctor and I run across London Bridge towards the Eye. We come to a halt at the foot of the Eye.

"Think of it. Plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables; still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath." I run off and find the entrance to a manhole at the foot of the wall, I look over.

"What about down there?" the Doctor runs to join me.

"Looks good to me." We run down the stairs to the manhole. The Doctor takes the lid off it, and red light and smoke pours out. We both climb down the ladder underground. The Doctor opens the door to another chamber and we go down some steps. The Doctor points to a huge, orange, wobbling mass in the middle of the chamber. "The Nestene Consciousness, that's it, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature."

"Huh, so I guess you're not going to kill it straight off, right? You're going to try and reason with it?" I looked over to him, to see him beaming a smile at me.

"Correct! You and your question, do you ever get in trouble with that little problem of yours?" I nodded to him, "Oh, yeah. All the time, it use to drive mum mad when I was younger." We go down some more steps. The Doctor leans over the railings and addresses the Consciousness.

"I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract. According to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation." The Consciousness flobbles around a bit. "Thank you. That I might have permission to approach." Meanwhile, I was pacing around in the background until I spotted Mickey and ran to him. The Doctor rolls his eyes.

"Mickey! It's okay. It's alright." I kneed down next to him.

"That thing down there, the liquid, Jessa – it can talk!" I pulled him into a hug, only to pull back again.

"God, you stink!" I looked at him in confusion, then back to the Doctor. "Doctor, they kept him alive. Why?"

"Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy." I gave him a harsh glare when I realize what he was saying.

"You knew that and you never said!" I grounded out through my clench teeth. Mickey clinging on to me, whimpering like a lost, little boy.

"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you." I helped Mickey to his feet. The Doctor approaches the Consciousness. "Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" the plastic globbers in what appears to be a negative manner. "Oh don't give me that, it's an invasion! Plain and simple! Don't talk about constitutional rights!" the plastic rears what would appear to be its head angrily. "I – am – talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt to walk, well all but one, she's learned to talk at the same time." The Doctor looked at me with a handsome smile and winked at me, causing me to blush a light pink across my cheek bones and bridge of my nose. "But they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf – please, just go." Two dummies approach the Doctor from behind.

"Doctor!" I gasped to him. The dummies grab him. One of them takes the anti-plastic out of his jacket pocket.

"That was just insurance! I wasn't going to USE it." The plastic globbers angrily. "I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not . . . what do you mean?" the doors above him open to reveal the TARDIS. I realize that the humming was gone when we came here, I looked to the TARDIS questioningly, _'Is the humming coming from the TARDIS?'_

"Oh, oh no – honestly, no! Yes, that's my ship." The plastic roars. "That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war – it wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!"

"Doctor, what's it doing?!" I yelled down to him.

"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene had indentified its superior technology – it's terrified! It's going to the final base. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Jessamine! Just leg it! Now!" I dial a number on my mobile.

_[Mum?!]_

JPTD

Jackie was going down the steps of the police station.

[Oh, there you are, I was just gonna phone. You can get compensation. I said so. I've got this document thing off the police – don't thank me!]

_[That's great, Mum. Where are you? Where's Rose?]_

[I'm in town! Rose's at home, came in screaming like a banshee.]

_[Go home! Just go home, right now!]_

[Darling, you're breaking up, look, I'm just going to do a bit of late night shopping. I'll see you later. Tara!] She hangs up.

JPTD

_[Mum?! Mum!]_

JPTD

Jackie heads into the Queens Arcade shopping centre.

JPTD

The Consciousness sends out a signal.

"It's the activation signal! It's transmitting!" I looked over to the Doctor in worry. The electric blue signal shoots around the Eye.

"The end of the world . . ." I snapped my head to Mickey when he whispered that. I held him tighter.

"No, Mickey don't think that." I wince in pain as more names were added to the list.

JPTD

Clive was at the shopping centre, talking to his wife.

"There's no point creating a spreadsheet if you're going to spend summer money in winter months." Caroline gasps as she walks past a shop window and the dummy taps the glass.

"Oh my God! I thought they were dummies! I nearly had a heart-attack!" they look around and all the dummies are doing the same. Clive's wife smiles appreciatively . . . until they punch their way through the glass and step out of the windows. Jackie is coming down an escalator and looks in disbelief at the dummies walking around.

"It's true. Everything I read, all the stories! It's all true!" a dummy turns towards him. Its hand comes off and reveals a gun, and shoots him. Clive's wife and son scream.

JPTD

The Doctor is still being held hostage.

"Get out, Jessamine! Just get out! Run!" the Doctor yelled up to me. Part of the ceiling falls in.

"The stairs are gone and I don't have a key to the TARDIS." I said as loud as I could, the pain getting worse with the amount of names appearing on the list.

"We're gonna die!" Mickey yelled, I groan in pain, collapsing by the TARDIS. "Jessa?!"

JPTD

The shopping centre is in chaos. Jackie stands at the bottom of the escalator looking confused for a few seconds, then screams and runs, dropping her shopping bags.

JPTD

Mickey is holding me as he cowers at the door of the TARDIS.

JPTD

Outside, Jackie finds that there is just as much chaos outside the shopping centre as there is inside. An army of dummies come out of the doors. Jackie runs down the road and ducks behind a car outside a wedding shop. The dummies in the window punch through the glass. Jackie screams.

JPTD

I moved out of Mickey's arms, moaning in pain as it shoots through my body. I grab on to the railing and watch as the Doctor struggles to get to the anti-plastic. I reached to my decision. I stand up fully without the help of the rail.

"Just leave him!" Mickey yells to me.

JPTD

The wedding dummies advance dangerously on Jackie. All three holding their arms out ready to shoot.

JPTD

I take action.

"There's nothing you can do!" Mickey says to me. I pick up an axe.

"I've got my A levels."

JPTD

The dummies raise their guns.

JPTD

"But no job to show for it."

JPTD

The hands open to reveal the space where the bullets can be released.

JPTD

"And no future, not here . . . never here." I continued.

JPTD

Jackie cowers.

JPTD

I hacked at the chain on the wall, trying to release it. More pain shoots through.

"ACK!" I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut.

"Jessamine!" I heard the Doctor yell.

"But I also got a Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team and more." The chain came loose and I grab onto it. "I got the gold!" I swing across the gap over the Consciousness. I kick the dummies holding the Doctor hostage into the Nestene, anti-plastic and all. The Consciousness starts to writhe and scream. I land safely in the Doctor's arms at the other side of the gap.

"Now we're in trouble." The Consciousness starts to explode as the Doctor and I run off. The signal from the Eye is cut off.

JPTD

The dummies in the high street that were previously attacking people, stop, and start to twitch as if they are doing some kind of dance. Jackie uncovers her eyes warily.

JPTD

Mickey, the Doctor and I all manage to reach the TARDIS. I grin at the Consciousness before I go in and close the door, as it starts to die. Just before the whole chamber goes up in flames, the TARDIS disappears.

JPTD

The dummies all fall to the ground, twitching at first, but dead.

JPTD

Mickey runs backwards out of the TARDIS and falls over, looking terrified. He backs against a wall. I, however, step out and ring mum on my mobile again.

_[Jessa! Jessa! Don't go out of the house, it's not safe!]_ I laugh in relief to hear mum's voice.

_[There were all of these things! And they were shooting! And they—]_ satisfied that mum was alive, I hang up on her, smiling to myself.

JPTD

_[Hello? Hello?]_ Jackie said into the mobile.

JPTD

I walked over to Mickey, wincing every step.

"A fat lot of good you were!" Mickey whimpers. The Doctor stands in the doorway of the TARDIS.

"Nestene Consciousness?" he clicks his fingers, "Easy."

"You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me." I said teasingly to him.

"Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then! I'll be off! Unless, uh . . . I don't know . . . you could come with me." I look at him, standing up completely. I could go with him. I could leave this boring life. I'd be able to see what's beyond the stars again. I get to go on adventures again . . . I'll be able to truly live again.

"Don't! He's an alien! He's a thing!" I looked to Mickey with a frown on my face.

"He's NOT invited. What do you think? You could stay here and fill your life with work, food, and sleep. Your questions going to waste or you could go, uh . . . anywhere." My eyes widen at that before I remember, I could never go back home.

"Is it always this dangerous?" I asked.

"Yeah." The Doctor nods. Mickey puts his arms around my legs like a little child. I looked down to him then back up to the Doctor. I began to remove Mickey's arms, moving towards the Doctor.

"Jessa, no! Please, don't! What about Jackie and Rose? What about me? You're my best mate." I stopped walking towards the Doctor. I look back to Mickey. I turned back to the Doctor raising a finger for a minute, he nods. I move back to Mickey and pull him into a big hug.

"Oh, Mickey. I have to go with him . . . it feels right." I move back from him and cup his face in my hands. I see tears run down his face. I wipe them away with my thumbs. "Oh, honey. Don't cry. This isn't the end, it's just the beginning. Remember all those stories I told you? It's time to make some new ones and one day, Mickey, you'll be there right by my side and we'll be making our stories together. But I need you to be strong for me and watch Rose and mum for me, can you do that?" he nods his head, silent tears still running down his face. I hug him again tightly for the last time until we see each other again. I kiss his cheek and let go of him. I stand up and turn to the Doctor. He holds a hand out to me with a big smile on his face. I run to him and take his hand, smiling brightly as we enter the TARDIS.


	3. The End of the World

"Right then, Jessamine Tyler – you tell me, where do you want to go? Backwards or Forwards in time. What's it going to be?" The Doctor asked me, still holding my hand. He took us to the controls, I could hear the humming again, and it sounded so happy.

"Forwards." I answered him. The Doctor lets go of my hand and presses a few buttons.

"How far?" I picked a random number out of my head, "One hundred years." He pulls a lever and turns a knob. The engines lurch and then stopped after a few seconds.

"There you go, step outside those doors, it's the twenty-second century." I looked over to him in light shock.

"Really?" he nodded his head and then shrugged, "That's a bit boring though, do you want to go further?"

"Absolutely!" I said in excitement, with a big, bright smile. The Doctor starts up the engines again. When they stop, he looks at me.

"Ten thousand years in the future. Step outside, it's the year 12005, the New Roman Empire."

"You think you're so impressive." I grinned at him teasingly.

"I AM so impressive." He grinned back. I laughed lively at him, "You wish!"

"Right then, you asked for it. I know exactly where to go." He revs up the engine, pumping a lever furiously. "Hold on!"

I grabbed onto the console as the TARDIS hurtles through the time vortex. With a pinging noise, the TARDIS stops. "Where are we?" the Doctor gestures towards the doors. I smile excitedly, "What's out there?" he gestures again. I step outside the doors. I find myself in some kind of metal room. The Doctor follows me and with his sonic screwdriver, opens the shutters of an enormous window. We go down the stairs and find ourselves looking down on the planet Earth.

"You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take the time to imagine the impossible. Maybe you survive. This is the year 5.5/apple/26. Five billion years in your future. This is the day . . . hold on . . ." he looks at his watch, "This is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world."

"_Shuttles 5 and 6 now docking. Guests are reminded that platform 1 forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth death is scheduled for 15:39, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite."_ I make a face at the religion part as the Doctor and I are walking down a corridor. I turn to look at the Doctor.

"So, when it says 'guests' does that mean aliens?" I asked looping my arm with his.

"Yes! Very good, Jessamine!" he nods his head excitedly. I look around the spaceship, thinking.

"So I'm guessing that they've gather here to watch the Earth burn?" I asked again looking up to him just a bit.

"Yes." The Doctor starts to open a door with his sonic screwdriver. I look away and over my shoulder, "It's for fun, isn't it?" I look back over to him. He nods again. We enter a large observation gallery.

"Mind you, it's the great and the good, what I mean is, the rich." He told me, resting his hand on mine that was still resting on his arm.

"The sun expanding though, that takes hundreds of years." I said looking up to him.

"Millions. But the planet's now property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there?" he points out the window at the tiny glints of light orbiting the Earth, "Gravity satellite. That's holding back the sun."

"The planet looks the same." I peered out the window, "The continents were supposed to shift." I looked back over to the Doctor.

"They did. And the trust shifted them back. That's a classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over!" I shook my head backing away from the window.

"They should of let nature take over years ago, this is wrong . . . how long has it got?" I miss the Doctor's sad look towards me, he looks at his watch.

"About half an hour. And the plant gets roasted." I looked back at him sharply.

"I'm guessing we're not saving it this time?" I asked.

"Yep, time's up." He answered. I nodded, "Its empty, isn't it? They left it, didn't they?"

"Yes." I look back out the window. Then a tall blue man hurries towards us.

"Who the hell are you?" I just stare at him in wonder.

"Oh! That's nice, thanks." I shook my head at the Doctor sarcasm.

"But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked! They're on their way any second now!" the Doctor starts digging in his pockets making me move my arm away.

"That's me, I'm a guest, look! I've got an invitation!" he flashes a small leather wallet at the blue man. "Look, there you see? It's fine, see? The Doctor plus one. I'm the Doctor, this is Jessa Tyler. She's my plus one. That all right?" I shot the Doctor a confused look when he called me Jessa, since we first met he's always called me by my whole name. The only one to do that since Pete passed away.

"Well . . . obviously." The Doctor grins. "Apologies, etcetera. If you're onboard, we'd better start. Enjoy." The Doctor nods at him. After the blue man walks off, the Doctor shows me the card he had flashed at the man. I take it out of his hands looking at it.

"The paper's slightly psychic. Shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time. See?" I shook my head and handed it back.

"It's blank, Doctor." I told him. He looks at me with a bright, proud smile on his face.

"That just means you're too smart to be fooled by it, Jessamine." I blush lightly at that. I cleared my throat and looked away from him. I pointed in the direction of the blue man.

"Is he related to the Blue Man Group?" he barks out a laugh and shakes his head. The blue man was now speaking through a microphone at the other end of the suite.

"We have in attendance, the Doctor and Jessa Tyler. Thank you! All staff to their positions." He claps his hands and a lot of little blue people start scurrying around. "Hurry now! Thank you, as quick as we can! Come along, come along! And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest, representing the forest of Cheem, we have Trees. Namely, Jabe, Lute, and Coffa." The named Trees walked through the doors. "There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you can keep the room circulating, thank you. Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, the Moxx of Balhoon." The Doctor smiles cheerily, as my look of wonder soon starts to change into bewilderment. "And now, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme." The Doctor chuckles at the look on my face. "The inventors of hyposlip travel systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen. Thank you!" entered more aliens, "Cal 'Spark Plug'." More aliens. "Mr. and Mrs. Pakoo." And more. "The Ambassadors from the City State of Binding Light."

Jabe approaches the Doctor. On either side of her, her companions are holding plant trays with little shoots in them.

"The Gift of Peace." She takes a cutting and hands it to the Doctor. "I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather."

"Thank you!" he gives it to me. "Yes, gifts . . . erm . . ." he clears his throat and starts feeling his jacket for something, finding nothing, what he says shocks the living hell out of me, "I give you in return, air from my lungs." He blows gently onto Jabe's face, who closes her eyes briefly.

"How . . . intimate." I felt my eyes widen in shock, _'Oh Merlin, please tell me they're not . . .'_

"There's more where that came from." The Doctor said flirtatiously, _'Oh sweet loving Morgana, they are!'_ I gave the Doctor a 'what-the-ever-loving-fuck-just-happen' look. Did he really just flirt with a _tree_? A talking, walking, _breathing tree_!

"Sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Bo." I shook out of my shock as a huge head in an equally huge jar is wheel through the doors. I turn to get a better look and become transfixes on him as he passes us and I swear up and down the yellow brick road that he just winked at me. I felt like I knew him . . . that he was someone important to me. The Moxx of Balhoon approaches me and the Doctor.

"The Moxx of Balhoon." I turned to look at the alien.

"My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily saliva." He then spits accurately into my left eye.

"Thank you very much." The Doctor laughs. I gave him a death glare as I rub the spit out of my eye. Next, the Adherents of the Repeated Meme approach us. "Ah! The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you air from my lungs." He breathes heavily over them all.

"A gift of peace in all good faith." He holds out a large silver egg, which the Doctor takes, throws it up into the air, catches it, and then hands it to me. I shook my head, the egg gave off an ill feeling. The Doctor frowns at me.

"And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Trees and Multiforms. Consider the Earth below. In the memory of this dying world, we call forth the Last Human." The Doctor turns and looks at me. I look back at him with a raised eyebrow. The sliding doors open and what looks like a vertical trampoline made of human skin is wheeled through. It has eyes and a mouth, that's wearing red lipstick. My other eyebrow joins the already raised one, while my eyes widen in shock. I looked back to the Doctor.

"That's no human. That's a moveable, talkable trampoline!" I whispered to him. He looks at me in amusement.

"The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."

"Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at me the difference! Look how thin I am." The Doctor laughs silently but heartily and looks back to me, still looking shock. I looked over to him, "Holy shite! It really can talk!" I whispered to him then looking back to the trampoline with curiosity.

"Thin and dainty! I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturize me, moisturize me." One of the two men in white body suits who wheeled her in is holding a canister, which he sprays onto Cassandra or Trampoline as I was calling her now. "Truly, I am The Last Human." I snorted as I crept closer for a better look. "My father was a Texan. My mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in the soil." I had been walking around to the other side of Trampoline, to get a good view of her from all angle, she's completely flat! "I have come to honour them and . . ." she sniffs, ". . . say goodbye. Oh, no tears." One of her bodyguards wipes her eyes, "No tears. I'm sorry. But behold! I bring gifts. From Earth itself – the last remaining ostrich egg." One of the staff comes in and displays the egg to the room. "Legend says it had a wingspan of 50 feet and blew fire from its nostrils." I gave the Doctor a 'what-the-fuck' look which he ignored. "Or was that my third husband?" I rolled my eyes but the Doctor laughed. "Who knows? Oh don't laugh. I'll get laughter lines!" she laughs and mumbles to herself for a few seconds. Behind her, a large jukebox is wheeled into the room. "And here, another rarity. According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers." I looked at Trampoline in amazement knowing that the Human Race? Yeah, it just got even stupider. "Play on!" one of the staff presses a button and a record falls into place. The 'iPod' starts playing Tainted Love by Soft Cell. I watch the Doctor bop around appreciatively.

"Refreshments will now be served. Earth Death in 30 minutes." The steward told us. I could feel the lost, overwhelmed expression on my face. _'Everywhere I look there aliens, but no humans . . . well Trampoline technically counts as a human . . . so there's no magical humans . . . like me . . . I'm so alone.'_ I rush from the gallery after that thought.

JPTD

Concerned, the Doctor starts to follow her, but is stopped by Jabe.

"Doctor?" she snaps a photo of him when he pauses. "Thank you." The Doctor proceeds on. Jabe walks in the opposite direction. The Adherents of the Repeated Meme are offering the Steward a sliver egg.

"A gift of peace in all good faith."

"No, you're very kind, but I'm just the Steward." The Adherents of the Repeated Meme hold the egg out more persistently.

"A gift of peace in all good faith."

"Oh, yes. Thank you. Of course." The steward takes the egg. Meanwhile, Jabe is trying to get her computer to identify the Doctor's species.

"Identify species. Please identify species." The computer makes a small whistling noise. "Now, stop it. Identify his race. Where's he from?" after a moment, she stares at the computer in disbelief and in a hushed voice, "It's impossible." In a nearby glass cabinet, a metal robotic spider climbs out of one of the metal eggs that the Adherents of the Repeated Meme had been handing out. 

JPTD

I was in another part of the ship, looking out the window at the raging sun. I jump when another one of the staff comes into the room, a female this time.

"Sorry, am I allowed to be in here?" the employee looked around uneasily.

"You have to give us permission to talk." She looks at me expectantly. I look at her unsure, the behavior reminding me of house elves.

"Uh . . . you . . . have permission . . .?" I said hesitantly.

"Thank you! And, no. You're not in the way. Guests are allowed anywhere."

"Okay." I nodded my head. She goes to a panel in the wall and enters a code. I watch her.

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"Raffalo." I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Raffalo?"

"Yes, Miss. I won't be long, I've just got to carry out some maintenance." She kneels before an air vent. "There's a tiny little glitch in the Face of Bo suite. There must be something blocking the system – he's not getting any hot water."

"So, you're a plumber?" I asked slowly.

"That's right, Miss." I looked at her in shock.

"They still have plumbers?" Raffalo looked to me, "I hope so! Else I'm out of a job!" I laugh.

"Where are you from?" I asked interested.

"Crespallion." I nodded and crossed my arms behind my back.

"And that's where?"

"Crespallion's part of the Jaggit Brocade, affiliated to the Scarlet Junction, Convex 56. And where are you from, Miss?" she seemed to remember herself, "If you don't mind me asking."

"No, not at all. I'm from a very faraway place. I sort of, hitched a lift with the Doctor." I looked away lost in my thoughts. Raffalo name suddenly appears in head on the list, I let out a soft sigh. "Anyway, don't let me keep you. Good luck with it!" I begin to walk away but before I do, I lightly brush my hand on Raffalo claiming her soul as collected.

"Thank you, Miss. And –" I turn around, "Thank you for the permission. Not many people are that considerate."

"Welcome. See you later." I smile to her. Raffalo nods and smiles. When I left, she takes the cover off the air vent.

JPTD

"Now then." She peers into the vent and then speaks into a small microphone attached to her collar. "Control – I'm at Junction 19 and I think the problem's coming from in here. I'll go inside and have a look." She hears a small tapping. "What's that? Is there something in there?" a metal spider appears at the end of the shaft. "Oh! Who are you then?" the spider scurries away as if frightened. "Hold on! I . . . if you're an upgrade I just need to register you, that's all. Oh, come back!" a red beam of light falls on Raffalo's face. "Ah, there you are. Now I just need to register your indent." Another spider joins the first. "Oh, there's two of you! Got yourself a little mate!" she giggles. "I think I'd better report this to control. How many of you are there?" a third spider appears, and then a fourth. "What are you? Oh, no. No. Nooooo!" she is dragged head first into the air vent.

JPTD

The steward enters his office and puts his egg on a nearby table and sits down. He listens to Control speaking.

"What's that? Well, how should I know?" he activates the loudspeaker, "Would the owner of the blue box in private gallery 15 please report to the steward's office immediately. Guests are reminded that use of all teleportation devices is strictly forbidden under Peace Treaty 5.4/cup/16. Thank you." While he's talking, a spider has broken out of its egg and runs up the opposite wall.

JPTD

"_Earth Death in 25 minutes. Earth Death in 25 minutes."_

I was sitting on the steps, leaning back looking out the window. I look over to the cutting of Jabe's grandfather. I pick it up.

"Hello! My name's Jessamine, though everyone calls me Jessa. My middle name is Rose, though. It's a sort of plant, so we might be related . . ." I start laughing at myself and put the plant down, "I'm talking to a twig."

JPTD

The TARDIS is being dragged away by some of the staff.

"Oi, now, careful with that. Park it properly. No scratches." One of them walks up to the Doctor, squeaks at him, hands him a card and walks away again. The Doctor reads it – it says 'Have a nice day'. The Doctor looks at the retreating staff's back as if he or she is completely off his or her rocker, and walks off. A few of the metal spiders scurry up the wall behind him. A few more are running along the air vent.

JPTD

"Jessamine? Are you in there?" the Doctor calls as he comes through the door. "Aye aye!" he sits on the other side of the stairs. "What do you think, then?"

"It's amazing, Doctor. Absolutely amazing . . . once you get pass the walkable, talkable human trampoline, that is." The Doctor laughs, there's a short pause. "It just makes me realize how truly alone I am, though." The Doctor looks at me questionably, "The Earth you found me on, it's not the true Earth I'm from. My home, Doctor is gone . . . because of me." I looked away from him, "My people got so power hungry, Doctor. I didn't have a choice but I wish I did . . . Oh Merlin did I beg for another way, but there wasn't one." I look back over to him, silent tears running down my cheeks. "My people thought they were better than the Muggles and wanted to get rid of them. Bloody hell, even my own husband agree with the Ministry. So my best friend, Hermonie Weasley nee Granger and I created a ritual that would time lock our world but it came with a price, Doctor." My hands were shaking as I moved them to wipe the tears away. I felt a large hand take hold of both of my hands, startling me. I looked up from the floor to see the Doctor looking at me with a soft and sad expression.

"What was the price, Jessamine?"

"It had to be me or Hermonie by using the veil of death. Whoever did would be taken out of the time lock and sent to another Earth, never to come back cos once activated in a time lock no one comes out and no one comes in. There was the possibilities of the person dying. So I did it, cos death can't take its own Mistress, Doctor." I moved my left hand out of his and moved my selves up, showing him my Deathly Hallows mark. "I can't die, Doctor. I have to watch everyone I love and care about age and die all around me and collect their damn souls. You know what that's like, right?" I look up at him, he nods. I look away from him, embarrassed about spilling my woes to him.

"Where are you from, Doctor?" I asked after a while.

"All over the place." I looked over to him.

"They all speak English, why?" I asked.

"It's a gift of the TARDIS. Telepathic field, gets inside your brain – translates." I nodded my head in thought.

"Does that include humming?" I looked him in the eye. He looked at me in shock.

"Humming?" I nodded, "Yeah, I started to hear humming when you told me the name of the TARDIS." He just keeps looking at me in shock.

"That's never happened that fast." I tilted my head questioningly. "The TARDIS, she can talk and rarely does she talk to my companions."

"I'm just a special case then, yea?" I teased with a small grin.

"Oh, there's no doubt about that." I sat there gob smack as he teased me back. I lightly hit him on the arm, "Jerk!" I laughed. Once I stopped laughing, I turned back to the Doctor.

"But, really, where are you from, Doctor? What are you called? What's your plant called?" I asked again. The Doctor sits up and looks away from me.

"I'm just The Doctor." I frown at him.

"Yea? From what planet?" I pressed.

"Well, it's not as if you'll know where it is!" my frown deepen.

"Doctor, where are you from?" I turned to him, arms crossed.

"What does it matter?" he asked me.

"It matters cos I told you where I'm truly from and the least you could do is to do the same. Tell me who you are." I told him very seriously.

"This is who I am, right here, right now, alright? All that counts is here and now, and this is me!" he said suddenly very angry. The Doctor gets up and walks down the steps away from me.

"_Earth Death in 20 minutes. Earth Death in 20 minutes."_ After a few minutes, I get up and follow the Doctor down the steps.

"Alright . . . as Monie used to say . . . don't argue with the designated driver. . . But so you know, I'm always here if you want to talk, okay?" The Doctor, with his back turned to me, smiles at that. I get out my mobile out of my pocket. "Can't exactly call for a taxi . . . there's no signal. We're out of range. Just a bit!" I tried to get the Doctor to laugh or look at me with that handsome smile of his again. My wish was answered.

"Tell you what . . ." he takes my phone from me. "With a little bit of jiggery pokery . . ." he takes the back off.

"Is that a technical term, 'jiggery pokery'?" I asked with a slight smile.

"Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery, what about you?" I giggled a bit.

"Nah, failed hullabaloo." I cover my mouth with my hand smothering my giggles a bit.

"Oooh." He fits in a new battery, and hands it back to me. "There you go." I take it and look at him uncertainly. He nods. I get mum's number onto the screen and put the phone to my ear. It rings.

JPTD

Jackie's in the kitchen, its 2005.

[Hello?]

_[Mum?]_ Jackie is putting some washing into the machine.

[Oh, what is it? What's wrong? What have I done now? Oh, this red top's falling to bits! You should get your money back. Go on! There must be something, you never phone in the middle of the day!] She hears me laugh. [What's so funny?]

_[Nothing! You and Rose all right, though?]_

[Yeah! Why wouldn't we be?]

_[What day is it?]_

[Wednesday. All day. You got a hangover? Oh, I tell you what, put a quid in that lottery syndicate, I'll pay you back later.]

_[Yeah, um, I was just calling 'cause I might be late home.]_

[Is there something wrong?] Jackie puts the phone down.

JPTD

_[No! I'm fine! Top of the world!] _The Doctor laughs. I lower my mobile, stunned.

"Think that's amazing, you want to see the bill." I look over to him.

"That was 5 billion years ago. She's dead now. They're both dead . . . I'm the mistress of Death, when they told me the job description, I think they forgot about mad men and their bigger on the inside blue boxes!" I told him.

"Bundle of laughs, you are." I rolled my eyes at him. The ship then shudders. "That's not supposed to happen . . ." the Doctor said rather pleased and curious.

JPTD

"Well, what was it? I'm just getting green lights at this end." He said to control. "Honoured guests may be reassured that gravity pockets may cause slight turbulence, thanking you." He said on the activated loudspeaker. As soon as it's switched off again, he speaks angrily to control again. "The whole place shook! I felt it! I've hosted all sorts of events on platforms 1, 3, 6, and 15 and I've never felt the slightest tremor. I warn you, if this lot decide to sue . . . I'm going to scan the infrastructure." He presses a few buttons. "What's that?" a spider scurries down the wall behind him. "Control, I don't want to worry you, but I'm picking up readings . . ." the computer beeps. "I have no idea! Well, they're small, and the scan says they're metal . . ." the computer beeps frustrated. "I don't know what they look like!" suddenly, he spots the spider, which is now pottering around on his desk next to his mug. "Although, I imagine they might look rather like that . . . you're not on the guest list . . . how did you get on board . . .?" the spider looks at him almost mockingly and presses a yellow button on the control panel. The computerized woman's voice booms out again.

"_Sun filter deactivated."_

"No. No!"

"_Sun filter descending."_ The sun filter starts to descend.

"No! Sun filter, up! No, no, no!" the steward said frantically as he fumbles with the buttons on the control panels, but too late. "Sun filter up! Sun filter up!" Blinding light engulfs the steward.

"_Sun filter descending."_ The Steward screams. Outside the room, the spider escapes through an air vent.

JPTD

The guests are completely oblivious to the commotion, chatting to each other. The Moxx of Balhoon is talking to the Face of Bo.

". . . this is the Bad Wolf scenario . . ." the Doctor and I enter.

"That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that." He fiddles with a control panel next to the door. Jabe approaches us, I immediately start to feel a bit of jealousy. "What do you think, Jabe? Listen to the engines – they pitched up about 30 hertz, is that dodgy or what?"

"It's the sound of metal, it doesn't make any sense to me." I scoffed at her silently, even I could tell the difference of the sound from earlier to now.

"Where's the engine room?" the Doctor asked her.

"I don't know . . . but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest's suite, I could show you. And . . ." she gestures at me. ". . . your wife."

"She's not my wife." I look at the Doctor out the corner of my eye.

"Partner?"

"No." Jabe looks at me, I felt my figurative feather ruffle up.

"Concubine?" that's it.

"Whatever I am, it must be invisible, do you mind? Tell you what, you two go and pollinate, I'm going to catch up with family. Quick word with Michael Jackson. Oh and who knows, I may go offer myself to Mr. Face of Bo over there, yea? And he wouldn't have been able to afford me, anyway." I sneer at her and make my way over to Trampoline.

"Don't start a fight, Jessamine." He said slightly red faced as he proffers an arm to Jabe. "I'm all yours."

"And I want you home by midnight!" I said feathers still a bit ruffled, watching them leave. The Doctor grins back at me.

"_Earth Death in 15 minutes. Earth Death in 15 minutes."_

JPTD

Before the Doctor and Jabe enter the maintenance corridor, several spiders scurry out of view.

"Who's in charge of Platform One? Is there a captain or what?" the Doctor asked.

"There's just the steward and the staff. All the rest is controlled by the metal man." Jabe replied to him.

"You mean the computer? But who controls that?" the Doctor looks at her.

"The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another." The Doctor was silent for a moment.

"But there's no one from the corporation on board." The Doctor told her.

"They're not needed. This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the alpha class. Nothing can go wrong."

"Unsinkable?" the Doctor asked.

"If you like. The nautical metaphor is appropriate."

"You're telling me. I was on board another ship once. They said that was unsinkable . . . I ended up clinging to an iceberg, it wasn't half cold." He stops for a moment. "So, what you're saying is, if we get in trouble there's no one to help us out?"

"I'm afraid not." She agreed with him.

"Fantastic." The Doctor grins as he starts walking again.

"I don't understand. In what way is THAT fantastic?" behind them, a spider creeps out of its hiding place.

JPTD

I was talking to Trampoline as we looked out a window at the sun and down at the Earth.

"Soon, the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy." I snapped my head to her, with a 'what-the-fuck' face. "Down there. Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice." She sighs. "I had such fun."

"What happened to everyone else? Where'd they go?" I asked her.

"They say Mankind has touched every star in the sky." I understood now.

"You're not the _last_ human but the last _pure_ human." But even then she wasn't, I was and I would always be.

"Yes. The others . . . mingled." She said in disgusted. "Oh, they call themselves 'New Humans' and 'Proto-humans' and 'Digi-humans' even 'Human-ish' but you know what I call them?" she lowers her voice to a whisper. "Mongrels."

"Right. And you stayed behind." I sneered at her.

"I kept myself pure." She sneered right back.

"How many operation have you had?" I looked at her.

"708. Next week, its 709, I'm having my blood bleached. Is that why you wanted a word? You could be flatter, Jessa. You've got a bit of a chin poking out."

"I'd rather die." I laughed bitterly to myself, _'If only I could.'_

"Honestly, it doesn't hurt –" I interrupted her before she could go any further.

"No, I mean it. I'd rather die. It's better to die than live like you – a bitchy trampoline."

"Oh well. What do you know?" She said to me rolling her eyes.

"I was born on that planet. And so was my mum, and so was my dad and my sister and that makes me officially the last human being in this room, 'cause you're not human. You've had it nipped and tucked and flattened till there's nothing left. Anything human got chucked in the bin. You're just skin, Trampoline. Lipstick and skin. Nice talking." I walked off, heading to Mr. Face of Bo.

JPTD

The Doctor and Jabe are still making their way down the corridor, the low ceiling forcing them to stoop slightly.

"So, tell me, Jabe. What's a tree like you doing in a place like this?" the Doctor asked her.

"Respect for the Earth." She replied with a tilt of her head.

"Oh, come on. Everyone on this platform's worth zillions." The Doctor pressed.

"Well . . . perhaps it's a case of having to be seen at the right occasions." She relented.

"In case your share prices drop? I know you lot. You've got massive forest everywhere, and there's always money in land." The Doctor said.

"All the same. You respect the Earth as family. So many species evolved from that planet. Mankind is only one. I'm another. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below. And I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest." The Doctor looks impressed. He then points to a control panel.

"Excuse me." He gets his sonic screwdriver and starts poking the screen with it.

"And what about your ancestry, Doctor? Perhaps you could tell a story or two . . . perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left . . ." there was no answer, "I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species – refused to admit your existence." The Doctor pretends to be concentrating on the scan, but a flicker of emotion passes across his face. "And even when it named you, I wouldn't believe it. But it was right." The Doctor stops scanning. Deep sadness is reflected in his eyes. Jabe's tone is hushed, awed. "I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist. I just want to say . . . how sorry I am." Jabe puts a comforting hand on his arm. The Doctor's eyes are filled with tears. He places his hand over hers, and a tear falls down his cheek. He quickly finishes the scan and he and Jabe go through a door.

The Doctor and Jabe find themselves in the ventilation chamber. There are huge fans circulating in there. The Doctor looks down at Jabe.

"Is it me, or is it a bit nippy?"

JPTD

I sat in front of the Face of Bo tank. We stared at one another for a good solid five minutes before I started to hear loud chuckling in my head.

"What the hell is with all this physic shite? First Voldemort, then Snape, and now you and the TARDIS. What, is my head like party central or something?" I asked him, his chuckles getting louder and the other aliens near us narrowed their eyes at me when I cursed. I narrowed my eyes right back at them, "What you never hear cursing before? Go back to your gossiping, ya eavesdroppers." They all huffed at me and went back to their chatting. I turned back to the Face of Bo. "What are you laughing, big head?" I crossed my arms and glared at him.

"Even now you're still feisty as ever, my Jessa-Rose." My glare soon disappeared into wide, shock eyes.

"How'd you know my middle name? This is the first time I've ever met you!" I gaped at him. He chuckled again.

"For you, yes. But for me, well I've lost count, my Jessa-Rose." I slowly nodded.

"You're someone important to me, aren't you? I could feel it when you came in earlier, big head." I said to him, memorizing how he looked right now.

"Still very curious about everything, I see. Yes, I'm very important to you, as you are to me, my Jessa-Rose." I stared at him.

"You're not going to tell me, are you? I have to figure it out." I said with a bitter smirk.

"Yes. You were always the smarter one between the both of us, Jessa-Rose." I could tell from his tone that he was smirking just as bitterly as I was.

"And what, you were the bronze of the operation?" I sassed at him.

"Yes, I was actually. You still get mad that I was taller and stronger." He sassed right back. I look back at the doors noticing that the Doctor and the tree weren't back yet.

"Well, big head. I need to find my friend, it was nice . . . talking with you." I said as I got up from the floor.

"As I you, my Jessa-Rose." I nodded and begin to walk always before he stopped me, "Jessa-Rose!" I flinched at the shout. I turned to him with a 'what' face. "There comes a time when you must force the Doctor to save me, will you promise me that? Will you promise to save me?" I frown and start to walk back over to him.

"Yes, of course, I promise. But why do you need my help? Why wouldn't the Doctor save you?" I asked. He chuckled sadly.

"When you meet me again, it will be in my true form and I don't make the best impression on you or the Doctor. But you have the heart and ability to forgive and give second chances. That's what I ask for, a second chance, my Jessa-Rose." I laid a hand on his glass.

"I promise you, Face of Bo, to give you a second chance and to save your sorry arse." I smirked at him. I heard him laugh.

"Once a smart ass, always a smart ass. I'll hold you to that promise, Jessa-Rose." I nodded and patted his tank a couple of times.

"See ya, later . . . big head." I walked towards the doors.

"Till later . . . pipsqueak." I chuckled at that and waved a hand over my shoulder. I left through the sliding doors, with the Adherents of the Repeated Meme watching me leave. I was walking alone down a corridor looking for the Doctor. The Adherents of the Repeated Meme coming from the other end. I smile lightly at them, but the front one strikes me to the ground where I lie unconscious as they drag me off.

JPTD

"Fair do's, though, that's a great bit of air conditioning. Sort of, nice and old fashioned. Bet they call it 'retro'." He scans another control panel with his sonic screwdriver. "Gotcha." The panel falls off and a spider scuttles out and scurries across the floor and up the wall. The Doctor and Jabe watch it. "What the hell's that?"

"Is it part of the 'retro'?" Jabe asked.

"I don't think so. Hold on." He points the screwdriver at the spider. However, Jabe fires something up at the spider, disabling it. It comes falling into the Doctor's hand. "Hey! Nice liana!"

"Thank you! We're not supposed to show them in public." She crosses her hands over the other.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody." He turns his attention to the spider. "Now then. Who's been bringing the pets on board?"

"What does it do?" She asked.

"Sabotage."

"_Earth Death in 10 minutes."_

"And the temperature's about to rocket. Come on." They hurry from the chamber.

JPTD

The aliens mill about.

"The planet's end. Come gather! Come gather! Bid farewell to the cradle of civilization. Let us mourn her with a traditional ballad." Cassandra said as Britney spears' Toxic suddenly blasts out of the enormous 'iPod'.

JPTD

The Doctor and Jabe hurry along, the corridor is filled with smoke and the staff are coughing squeaky little coughs.

"Come on! Get back!" he moves his sonic screwdriver over another control panel.

"_Sun Filter rising. Sun filter rising."_

"Was the Steward in there?!" Jabe asked in concerned.

"You can smell him. Hold on – there's another sun filter program to descend." The Doctor said.

JPTD

I could hear 'Toxic' being played loudly as I woke up, rubbing my head.

"_Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending."_

I sat up in alarm as the sun filter descends. I run to the door and knock on it frantically.

"Doctor! Let me out!" I yelled.

"_Sun filter descending."_

JPTD

The Doctor runs along the corridor. The Doctor arrives outside the door to attempt to make the sun filter rise again.

"Anyone in there?" he asked.

"Doctor!" he heard the frantic replied, whose voice belonged to Jessamine.

"Oh, well, it would be you." He said sarcastically.

JPTD

"Open the door!" I yelled at him.

"Hold on! Give us two ticks!" he yelled right back at me. I quirked an eyebrow, _'Us?'_ I look back to the room, the whole thing was smoking.

"_Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending."_

I looked around trying to find a spot to hide from the sun rays. I hid in a corner, then brought my hands up to my faces. Taking a deep breath, I casted a strong protego on the window.

JPTD

The display on the control panel says 'sun filter rising'. The Doctor looks up expectantly.

"_Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising."_

The Doctor looks pleased with himself.

JPTD

I sigh with relief and let the protego charm drop. I walk back over to the doors waiting for the Doctor to open them.

"_Sun filter rising . . . sun filter descending."_

I froze in my spot on the steps.

"This just what we need. The computer's getting clever." I hear the Doctor mumble.

"Doctor, will you stop jacking around!" I yelled at him.

"I'm not jacking around, it's fighting back!" he yelled at me. "Hang on!" I threw up the protego charm again.

"Just stop the sun filter, so I can get out!" I yelled to him.

"_Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending."_

JPTD

The Doctor jabs his sonic screwdriver right inside the wires.

"_Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising."_

JPTD

Panting, I drop the charm again, leaning back against the doors.

"The whole thing's jammed. I can't open the doors." I rolled my eyes and turn on the spot I was standing at. Appariting behind the Doctor with a loud pop, making the Doctor spin around. "Don't . . . move?" I panted tiredly.

"Apparition, lovely thing isn't it, Doctor?" I stumbled to the wall a bit. The Doctor rushed over to me, resting a hand on my shoulder.

"Jessamine, are you okay?" he asked as he looked me over, I nodded.

"Yeah, just shielded the sun with a protego, it took a bit of magic. But I'll be fine in a jiff." I said quietly. He nodded his head.

"_Earth Death in 5 minutes." _

JPTD

"The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of platform one." Jabe said looking at her computer.

"How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturize me, moisturize me." The Doctor takes the destabilized spider out of Jabe's hand. His other arm wrapped around my waist, letting me lean on him a bit. I looked at the sliver spider, _'I knew it was evil.'_

"Summon the Steward!" the Moxx of Balhoon cried.

"I'm afraid the steward is dead." Jabe said. _'Ah, so that's why my head still hurting, I couldn't claim his soul.'_ There was a general gasp of shock. I rolled my eyes at them.

"Who killed him?" The Moxx of Balhoon asked.

"This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Bo! He invited us!" Face of Bo shakes his head. I moved a bit from the Doctor, trying to walk over to Trampoline. The Doctor tightens his grip. "Talk to the face! Talk to the face!" she screeched.

"Oi! Leave him alone, ya bitchy Trampoline!" I yelled to her. Everyone gasped again in shock. "Oh, go choke on some caviar, you bunch of stuck up pricks!" I sneered at them all. I felt the Doctor chest tremble a bit, I looked up to see him holding back his laughter.

"Easy way of finding out. Someone brought a little pet on board." The Doctor shows them the spider. "Let's send him back to master." He places the spider down on the floor, after letting me go first and then again wrapped his arm around my waist. The spider scuttles along to Cassandra and looks up at her. Cassandra looked shifty for a moment, but the spider moves on to the feet of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.

"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" Cassandra voiced screeched again, making my ears ring.

"That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it . . ." the Adherents of the Repeated Meme tries to strike him, but he catches its arm and rips it off. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are. An idea." He rips a wire out of the arm and all of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme crumpled into a bundle of black cloaks. Everyone gasps. Cassandra and I roll our eyes. "Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo!" he nudges the spider with his foot. "Go home!" the spider ambles back over to Cassandra.

"I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed." The Doctor and I raised our eyebrows. "At arms!" the two bodyguards with canisters on either side of her raised their canisters.

"What are you going to do, moisturize me?" the Doctor said mockingly.

"With acid. Oh, too late anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm just not a pretty face." She said. The Doctor pushed me behind his back just a bit.

"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?" the Doctor sneered at her. I raised my head in realization, I moved out from behind the Doctor and stood in front of Cassandra.

"Oh, Doctor it's not stupid at all, brilliant almost but you got too cocky a bit too soon, Trampoline. You hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with yourself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous." I said to her with a disgusted look on my face. She looked at me in surprised. I smirked darkly at her. "Just like you, Cassandra, I'm more the just a pretty face and body. Five billion years and it still comes down to money."

"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am The Last Human, Doctor. Me. Not this freaky little kid of yours." I violently flinched back from her, my eyes widening just a bit, fear quickly crossed my face and was gone in a second flat.

"Arrest her!" the Moxx of Balhoon cried.

"Oh, shut it, pixie. I've still got my final option." Cassandra said.

"_Earth Death in 3 minutes."_

"And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? 'Burn, baby, burn.'" Cassandra said smugly.

"Then you'll burn with us." Jabe said strongly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but . . . I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders – activate." There were a series of explosions around the ship. I stumbled a bit falling backwards before the Doctor caught me and pulled me into his side again. "Force fields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband." She giggles, "Oh, shame on me. Buh-bye, darlings! Buh-bye, my darlings . . ." she and her bodyguard's teleport out.

"_Heat levels rising."_

"Reset the computer!" boy, that Moxx was a whiney thing.

"Only the Steward would know how."

"No. we can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch. Jabe, come on." Before they left, Jabe name appeared on my list.

"No!" the Doctor stopped and turned to me.

"What?" I walked over to them.

"Jabe, you stay here and protect the others. I'll go with the Doctor." Jabe nodded in agreement and went back in to the suite. The Doctor gave me a look and started to leave the room with me flagging him.

"You lot – just chill!" the Doctor called over his shoulder to the crowd.

"_Earth Death in 2 minutes. Earth Death 2 minutes."_

The Doctor and I were running through the maintenance corridor.

"_Heat levels – critical. Heat levels critical."_

The Doctor and I reached the ventilation chamber.

"Oh. And guess where the switch is." The Doctor's sarcasm wasn't very welcoming at the moment. The switch was located at the other side of the enormous fans.

"_Heat levels – rising. Heat levels – rising."_

The Doctor pulls a lever down and the fans slow down.

"_External temperature – 5 thousand degrees."_

As soon as the Doctor lets go of the lever, the fans start to speed up again. As the Doctor looks hopelessly at the fans, I pull the lever down again and hold it there.

"You can't. The heat's going to vent through this place." The Doctor said to me, I saw the concern in his eyes.

"I know." I nodded to him.

"Jessamine, you're human. It'll burn you to a crisp or . . ." I chuckled at him shaking my head.

"Doctor, you forget, I'm the mistress of death, I can't die. Now stop wasting time." He grins at me and runs back to the fans.

"_Heat levels – rising. Heat levels – rising."_

JPTD

The glass begins to crack.

"_Heat levels – hazardous."_

"We're going to die!" the Moxx cried.

JPTD

The Doctor dodges the first fan and runs underneath it. He looks anxiously up at the next one. The Doctor is still standing before the second fan. He looks back at me, I'm now sweating and breathing heavily.

"_Heat levels – critical. Heat levels – critical."_

The Doctor dodges under the second fan.

JPTD

The glass cracks further, engulfing the Moxx of Balhoon in light. He cries out.

JPTD

As the Doctor stands before the third fan. I started shaking violently. I gasped in pain as one of my hands palms melts off. I screamed. The Doctor looks back, shock. He see me on kneeling on the floor, my head pressed to the floor; shaking violently. I lifted my head just a bit and looked him right in the eyes. I looked back over to the lever, panting hard, I heaved my body on top of the lever pushing it down again.

"_Planet explodes in 10 . . . 9 . . ."_

The Doctor closes his eyes. All grows quiet.

"_8 . . . 7 . . . 6 . . . 5 . . . 4 . . ."_

The Doctor, still with his eyes closed, steps calmly though the fan. When at the other side, he opens his eyes and dashes to the switch, pulling it down.

"Raise shields!" he yelled to the ceiling.

JPTD

"_. . . 1"_

The force fields around the ships are reset just as the planet is engulfed in fire. It explodes, leaving the ship completely unharmed.

"_Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair."_

The glass is automatically repaired.

JPTD

The Doctor walks back through the fans. So, I let go of the lever once he's out. I collapse to the floor. The Doctor rushes to me.

"Jessamine!" I chuckled softly at him, cracking my eyes open just a bit.

"I'm fine, Doctor, just really weak right now." I said to him, very softly. He shook his head at me.

"Never do that again, Jessamine." I groan a bit.

"Saved her." I whispered. The Doctor looked at me confused.

"What?"

"I save Jabe. I didn't cause death for once, Doctor. Someone got to live just a bit longer now." I smiled at him.

"Come on, we need to head back." He smiled back at me. He helped me stand up and walk back to the suite.

We walked back into the gallery, where all the aliens are sitting around wounded or dead. The Doctor set me down, leaning back against a wall. He walks briskly over to Jabe a few minutes later after knowing I was okay again. He kept glancing at me as he talked to her and her companions and then he places his hand on her shoulder, leaving them to grieve. He walks back to me.

"You all right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one – teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two – this feed must be hidden nearby." He strides over to the ostrich egg, breaks it open and the teleportation feed falls out. He picks it up. "Idea number three – if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed." He twists the feed. Cassandra appears before us, apparently in the middle of gloating.

"Ah, you should have seen their little alien faces." She notices her new surroundings. "Oh."

"The Last Human." The Doctor bit out.

"So. You passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join the er . . . the human club." She said flustered. I rolled my eyes and pushed myself of the ground, hissing in pain. I slowly walk over to the Doctor hiding my left hand from sight.

"People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them." The Doctor said angrily to her, wrapping his arm around my shoulders gently once he spotted me by his side.

"That depends on your definition of 'people'. And that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court then, Doctor! And watch me smile, and cry, and flutter . . ." I had the joyous time interrupting her.

"And creak?" I asked smugly.

"And what?" she asked in shock.

"Creak! You're creaking." The Doctor said just as smugly as me. Cassandra's skin was tightening. Her eyes were becoming bloodshot and she was getting whiter and whiter.

"What? Ah! Ah! Oh, sweet heavens! Moisturize me! Moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!" she was panicking. She's covered in red blotches.

"You raised the temperature." I told her, deathly serious.

"Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, Doctor!" she said terrified and pathetically.

"Help her." Jabe said shaken. I turned to look at her.

"Everything has it time and everything dies." I told her, _'everything but me.'_

I'm . . . too . . . _young_!" she explodes. The Doctor looks completely cold and not remotely fazed, the same could be said for me; till I fainted from the pain I was in. The Doctor catches me before I hit the ground. He lifts me up in to his arms, bridle style and leaves the room.

JPTD

"_Shuttles 4 and 6 departing. This unit now closing down for maintenance."_

JPTD

The Manchester Suite was now completely empty apart from me, now fully healed. I was standing at the window watching the Earth burn with a very vulnerable and sad look on my face, oblivious to the Doctor watching me from the doorway. Rocks fly past the window, I place a newly healed hand on the window. I turn around slightly when I hear the Doctor's footsteps as he comes to stand beside me.

"The end of the Earth. It's gone. And we were too busy saving everyone, no one saw it go. It's one Earth after the other. I will always be force to watch my home crumble around me, never able to stop it; for the rest of my immortal life." The Doctor looks down at me, "All those years . . . all that history and no one was even looking. It's just . . ." a tear slides down my cheek.

"Come with me." He holds out his hand to me. I take it and we walk away together.

JPTD

We're back in 2005, I step out of the TARDIS. I look around at the crowds, for once seeing them in a new light, instead of just souls waiting for me to collect. The Doctor stands beside me.

"You think it'll last forever. People, and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day, it's all gone. Even the sky." We both look at the sky. After a moment, "My planet's gone." I turn to look at him, this is the first time he's mentioned his home. "It's dead. It burned like Earth. It's just rocks and dust. Before it's time."

"What happened?" I asked.

"There was a war. And we lost." He answered.

"A war with who?" but he doesn't answer, seemingly lost in thought. "What about your people?"

"I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own because there's no one else." He said to me.

"Well, there's me now. We'll be the last of our kind together." I smile at him.

"You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you want to go home?" he asked me. I look at him.

"Have you ever read the Harry Potter books?" I asked him, he shakes his head confused. "Read them and then you'll understand who I am. I'm not afraid of danger, Doctor. I live for it." I sniff the air. "Oh! Can you smell chips?" I asked suddenly very hungry.

"Yeah. Yeah!" the Doctor laughs.

"I want chips." I said looking up to his eyes.

"Me too." He smiles at me.

"Right then, before you get me back in that blue box, chips it is, and you can pay." I said to him.

"No money." I rolled my eyes playfully at him.

"What sort of date are you? Come on then, tightwad, chips are on me." He smiles at me, delighted. "We've only got five billion years before the shops close . . ." we walked down the street together laughing, I nuzzled my head against his shoulder.


	4. The Unquiet Dead

Arthur note: I will be doing one episode per chapter, specials may be two. So I hope that helps with any of your questions that you may have on that.

The actress I picture Jessa to look like is Billie Piper. Also check my profile for information on my stories, I do put things there about the Fem!Harry's and OC's.

JPDW

Mr. Sneed crosses a room where a woman lies dead in her coffin and a man stands over her. Sneed lights a gas lamp. He walks over to the man's side.

"Sneed and Company offer their sincerest condolences, sir. In this most trying hour." Mr. Sneed said to the man.

"Grandmamma had a good innings, Mr. Sneed. She was so full of life. I can't believe she's gone." The man told him.

"Not gone, Mr. Redpath, sir. Merely sleeping." There was a short silence.

"May I have a moment?" Mr. Redpath asked.

"Yes, of course. I shall be in the next room, should you require anything." He leaves Redpath alone with his Grandmother. Redpath, with his head bowed in grief, doesn't notice the gas enter her dead body and her eyes snap open. She suddenly grabs Redpath by the neck and throttles him. Mr. Sneed bursts back into the room upon hearing the commotion.

"Oh, no." Mr. Sneed whispered.

The old woman twists her grandson's neck around and he falls to the floor. Sneed tries to wrestle the lid back on the coffin.

"Gwyneth! Get down here now! We've got another one!" Sneed yelled. He's not strong enough to get the lid back on the coffin and the old woman kicks the side off.

Mrs. Pearce walks from the house, wailing.

JPTD

Inside the TARDIS it's mayhem. The whole ship is shaking and an alarm is going off.

"Hold that one down!" the Doctor yelled to me pointing to a button.

"I'm **HOLDING** this one down!" I yelled back to him pointing to it.

"Well, hold them **BOTH** down!" he yelled again.

"It's not going to work!" I rolled my eyes, holding the button down anyway.

"Oi! I promised you a time machine and that's what you're getting. Now, you've seen the future – let's have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?" he asked me, looking up.

"What happened in 1860?" I asked, history never being my strongest point.

"I don't know, let's find out. Hold on, here we go!" the TARDIS screeches through the time vortex.

JPTD

Mr. Sneed is dabbing at his forehead.

"Gwyneth! Where are you, girl? Gwyneth!" Gwyneth appears in the door way of the kitchen. "Where've you been? I was shouting!"

"I've been in the stables, sir, bringing the ice for old Sampson." Gwyneth said to him.

"Well, get back in there and harness him up." Mr. Sneed told her.

"Whatever for, sir?" she asked.

"The stiffs are getting lively again. Mr. Redpath's grandmother – she's up and on her feet and out there somewhere, on the streets! We've got to find her!" He said to her.

"Mr. Sneed, for shame! How many more times? It's ungodly!" Gwyneth said aghast.

"Don't look at me like it's _my_ fault! Now come on, hurry up! She was 86. She can't have got fair." He said while getting his coat on.

"What about Mr. Redpath? Did you deal with him?" She asked him.

"No. She did." He shook his head.

"That's awful, sir. I know it's not my place, and please – forgive me for talking out of turn, sir. But this is getting beyond, now." Sneed nods. "Something terrible is happening in this house, and we've got to get help."

"And we will! As soon as we get that dead old woman locked up and safe and sound. Now stop prevaricating girl, get the hearse ready. We're going body snatching."

JPTD

The controls are steaming and both the Doctor and I were lying on the floor laughing. We finally get up from the floor.

"Blimey!" I laughed.

"You're telling me! Are you alright?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah. I think so! I mean nothings broken . . . did we make it? Where are we?" I asked him, moving to stand by him.

"I did it! Give the man a medal. Earth – Naples – December 24th, 1860." I looked up at him questioningly.

"When you say things like that, it makes me really worried about your mental state." I laughed as I dodge his hand that was aim to swat my head. "That's so weird . . . it's Christmas." The Doctor gestures towards the door.

"All yours." He said to me.

"But, it's like . . . think about it, though. Christmas. 1860. Happens once. Just once, and it's gone. It's finished. It'll never happen again. Except for you, and mind you, I've went through 63 Christmas's if you count my first life." I study him intently. "You can go back and see days that are dead and gone and a hundred thousand sunsets ago . . . no wonder you never stay still . . ."

"Not a bad life." He answered.

"Better with two." I told him. We grin at each other for a few minutes. Then I slap his bum and dash towards the door. "Come on then!"

"Oi, oi, oi! Where do you think you're going?!" the Doctor took a hold of my hand, dragging me away from the doors.

"1860!" I laughed.

"Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella! There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, it's the fifth door on your left. Hurry up!" I rush off to get changed. The Doctor grinning after me.

JPTD

Sneed and Gwyneth are driving through the streets looking for the old woman.

"Not a sign. Where is she?" Sneed asked.

"She's vanished into the ether sir, where can she be?" Gwyneth asked him. Sneed stops the hearse and looks at Gwyneth.

"You tell me, girl." Sneed demanded.

"What do you mean?" she asked again.

"Gwyneth, you know full well." Gwyneth looked frighten.

"No, sir. I can't." she said to him.

"Use the sight." Sneed demanded again.

"It's not right, sir." Gwyneth begged.

"Find the old lady. Or you're dismissed." Gwyneth looks anxious. "Now, look inside, girl. Look deep. Where is she?" Gwyneth closes her eyes.

"She's lost, sir. She's so alone. Oh, my lord. So many strange things in her head." Gwyneth said.

"But where?" Sneed asked.

"She's excited. About tonight. Before she passed on, she was going to see him." Gwyneth continued.

"Who's 'him'?" Sneed asked again.

"A great man. All the way from London. The great, great man."

JPTD

There is a knock at a door. An old man is kneading his forehead inside the room.

"Mr. Dickens! Mr. Dickens! Excuse me, sir, Mr. Dickens – this is your call." Mr. Dickens does not respond. The stage manager comes into the room. "Are you quite well, sir?"

"Splendid, splendid. Sorry." Mr. Dickens said to the manager.

"Time you were on, sir." The manager said again.

"Absolutely. I was just – brooding." The manager throws him a questioning look. "Christmas eve. Not the best of times to be alone."

"Did no one travel with you, sir? An old lady wife waiting out front?" he asked.

"I'm afraid not." Dickens shakes his head.

"You can have mine if you want." The manager laughs.

"Oh, I wouldn't dare. I've been rather – let's say – clumsy, with family matters. By god, I'm too old to cause any more trouble."

"You speak as though it's all over, sir!"

"Oh, no, it's never over. On and on I go. The same old show." They look at the poster announcing his show. "I'm like a ghost, condemned to repeat myself . . ." he stands, ". . . for all eternity."

"It's never too late, sir. You could always think up some new turns." The manager says.

"No, I can't. Even my imagination grows stale." He takes a long swig of wine. "I'm an old man. Perhaps I've thought everything I'll ever think. Still! The lure of the lime-light! As potent as a pipe what, eh?" the stage manager helps him change his jacket. "On with the show."

JPTD

In the TARDIS, the Doctor is doing some more unnecessary repair work. I watch him from the shadows of the archway to the stairs. I look down at the dress the TARDIS personally picked out for me. It was an elegant TARDIS blue and silver satin gothic Victorian dress, it had ruffles at the bottom that start as the blue and soon turned into the silver. My hair was pulled into a high bun, I had to magically grow my right side out of its side cut so it wouldn't look weird. My shawl was silver as well. I picked up some of the skirt and started to walk down the stairs. The Doctor turns off his sonic screwdriver and looks at me in surprise.

"Blimey!" he looked shocked.

"Don't laugh!" I laughed a bit.

"You look beautiful!" I stop laughing and shyly smile instead. There was a pause and the Doctor looks away awkwardly. ". . . considering." He turns on his screwdriver again.

"Considering what?" I asked curiously. "That you're human!"

"You should have stop at 'you look beautiful', Doctor. Don't forget I'm a witch, and I know where you sleep." I said in amusement. "Aren't you going to change?"

"I've changed my jumper! Come on!" he jumps out of the space beneath the controls.

"You, stay there! You've done this before. This is mine!" I hurry towards the door and open it. I look out onto the street. I make one footprint in the untouched snow then withdraw my foot again. I, then step out altogether. The Doctor follows me.

"Ready for this?" I smile and he offers me his arm. I take it. "Here we go. History!" we walked off together.

JPTD

The curtains open for Dickens' show. The audience applaud. The dead old woman is sitting slap bang in the middle of them.

JPTD

The Doctor and I walk down the street, observing everything – me in amazement, the Doctor with his usual grin on his face. He walks in another direction and I follow. There's carol singers behind us.

JPTD

Sneed and Gwyneth arrive at the theatre.

"She's in there, sir, I'm certain of it." They alight from the hearse.

JPTD

The Doctor buys a newspaper from a little boy. He unfolds it and scans it.

"I got the flight a bit wrong." He told me.

"I don't care."

"It's not 1860, it's 1869." He turns to look at me.

"I don't care!"

"And it's not Naples." His light sky blue eyes connect with my grass green eyes.

"I don't care." I said honestly to him.

"It's Cardiff." He said seriously. I paused, "Right . . ."

JPTD

Dickens now was talking to a rapt audience.

"Now, it is a fact that there was nothing particular about the knocker on the door of this house. But let any man explain to me if he can, how it happened, that scrooge, having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without it's undergoing any intermediate process of change, not a knocker – but Marley's face." The audience gasp. "Marley's face! It looked at Scrooge as Marley used to look. It looked like . . ." the gas was escaping from the old woman. Dickens, seeing it as he was facing the audience, is the only one to notice. "Oh, my Lord! It looked . . . like that!" he points a trembling finger at the old woman. "What phantasmagoria is this?" the woman has risen from her seat. She lets out a long, loud wail. The audience scream and trample each other in their hurry to get away.

JPTD

The Doctor and I hear the screaming. The Doctor and I grin at each other.

"That's more like it!" he tosses the newspaper over his shoulder and runs in the direction of the screaming. I follow.

JPTD

Dickens is desperately trying to get his audience to sit down again.

"Stay in your seats, I beg you. It is a lantern show, its trickery." Sneed and Gwyneth are struggling against the crowds to enter.

"There she is, sir!" Gwyneth said, pointing out the obvious.

"I can see that!" the gas zooms around the room. "The whole bloomin' world can see that!" the Doctor and I enter the room. We watch the gas zoom around.

"Fantastic." The last of the gas leaves an old woman's mouth and she slumps back in the chair, looking dead. The Doctor approaches the man on the stage. "Did you see where it came from?"

"Ah. The wag reveals himself, does he? I trust you're satisfied, sir!" the Doctor looks slightly taken back. I look back to the old woman to see some old man and a girl around Rose's age making off with her.

"Oi! Leave her alone!" I yelled, starting to go after them. "Doctor, I'm going to check them out!"

"Be careful!" he jumps onto the stage. "Did it say anything? Could it speak? I'm The Doctor, by the way."

"Doctor? You look more like a navy." The old man on the stage said.

"What's **WRONG** with this jumper?" the Doctor said indignantly was the last thing I heard as I left the theatre.

JPTD 

The girl and old man have successfully loaded the body into the back of the hearse, by the time I finally catch up with them.

"What're you doing?!" I demanded the girl.

"Oh, it's such a tragedy, miss. Don't worry yourself, me and the master will deal with it." She tries to bar me from seeing inside the hearse. "The fact is, this poor lady's been taken with the brain fever and we have to get her to the infirmary." I push the girl aside and feel the old woman's forehead.

"She's cold . . . she's dead. But . . . that's impossible, that shouldn't be happening." I didn't notice the old man approaching me silently from behind. He clamps a tissue full of a drug, but once I inhaled the sweet smell, I knew it was chloroform; to my mouth and nose. I struggle for a few seconds, then go limp.

"What did you do that for?" the girl asked in shock.

"She's seen too much. Get her in the hearse!" the girl bends down to pick up my legs.

JPTD

The blue gas is still zooming around inside. It dives into one of the gas lamps and disappears.

"Gas! It's made of gas!" by the time the Doctor comes down the steps of the theatre, Gwyneth has just finished pushing Jessa's head out of sight into the hearse. She slams the door shut.

"Jessamine!" the Doctor yells as he runs towards the hearse.

"You're not escaping me, sir! What do you know about that hobgoblin, hm?" the hearse drives away. The Doctor stares after it. "Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it?"

"Yeah, mate. Not now, thanks." The Doctor spots a coach and runs towards it, shouting to the driver. "Oi, you! Follow that hearse!" he jumps into the coach.

"You can't do that, sir!"

"Why not?" the Doctor asked.

"Why not? I'll give you a very good reason why not! This is my coach!"

"Well, get in then!" he pulls the man in, and to the driver, "Move!" the coach rumbles off.

"Everything in order, Mr. Dickens?" the driver asked.

"No! It is not!" the now name man, Mr. Dickens yelled.

"What did he say?" the Doctor asked in shock.

"Let me say this first. I'm not without a sense of humour –" the Doctor interrupted him.

"Dickens?" he said questioningly.

"Yes."

"Charles Dickens?" he asked again.

"Yes."

"**THE** Charles Dickens?" the Doctor was now repeating himself.

"Shall I remove the gentleman, sir?" the driver asked.

"Charles Dickens! You're brilliant, you are! Completely 100% brilliant! I've read 'em all! Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and what's the other one, the one with the ghost?" The Doctor was totally having a fangirl moment.

"A Christmas Carol?" Dickens supplied.

"No, no, no, the one with the trains . . . The Signal Man, that's it, terrifying!" Dickens looks pleased. "The best short story ever written! You're a genius!" The Doctor said, still fangirling out.

"You want me to get rid of him, sir?" the driver asked again.

"Er, no, I think he can say." Dickens said a bit perplexes.

"Honestly, Charles – can I call you Charles? I'm such a big fan." The Doctor told him.

". . . what? A what?"

"Fan! Number One Fan, that's me." The Doctor points to himself.

"How exactly are you a fan? In what way do you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool?" Dickens asked, confused.

"No, it means 'Fanatic', devoted to. Mind you, I've gotta say, that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what was that about?! Was that just padding or what? I mean, its rubbish, that bit." The Doctor said still in fangirl mode.

"I thought you said you were my fan." Dickens said disgruntled.

"Ah, well, if you can't take criticism . . . go on, do the death of Little Nell, it cracks me up. No, sorry, come on, faster!" the driver urges the horses on.

"Who exactly **IS** in that hearse?" Dickens inquired.

"My friend. She's only twenty-three, and it's my fault. She's in my care, and now she's in danger." The Doctor turned to look at him.

"Why are we wasting my time talking about dry old books? This is much more important. Driver! Be swift! The chase is on!" Dickens bang his cane on the floor.

"Yes, sir!" the driver said excitedly.

"Thatta boy, Charlie!" the Doctor said delighted.

"Nobody calls me Charlie." Dickens gave him a look.

"The ladies do." The Doctor raised eyebrow.

"How do you know that?"

"I told you – I'm your Number One –" Dickens interrupted him.

"Number One Fan, yes . . ."

JPTD

Gwyneth and Sneed each have one end of Jessa.

"The poor girl's still alive, sir! What're we going to do with her?" They settle her down on a table that is evidently used for dead bodies.

"I don't know! I didn't plan any of this, did I. Isn't my fault is the dead won't stay dead." Sneed said.

"Then whose fault is it, sir? Why is this happening to us?" they leave the room, shutting and locking Jessa in. A gas lamp flickers.

"I did the Bishop a favour, once. Made his nephew look like a cherub. Even though he'd been a fortnight in the weir. Perhaps he'll do us an exorcism on the cheap." There's a knock on the door. They both look up, alarmed. "Say I'm not in. Tell them we're closed. Just – just get rid of them."

Jessa wakes up, looking slightly out of sorts, and doesn't notice when the gas from the lamps fills the corpse of Redpath. He sits up suddenly.

JPTD

Dickens knocks on the door again and Gwyneth opens it.

"I'm sorry, sir, we're closed." She said to them.

"Nonsense! Since when did an undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master."

"He's not in, sir." She makes to shut the door, but Dickens forces it open again.

"Don't lie to me, child!" he said angrily.

"I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Dickens, but the master's indisposed." Behind her, a gas lamp flares up.

"Having trouble with your gas?" the Doctor asked.

"What the Shakespeare is going on?" Dickens looks around curiously.

JPTD

I suddenly notice the corpse behind me. I jump in alarm as he starts making zombie noises at me.

"Merlin fuck, you have to be kidding right now!" he climbs out of the coffin. "This isn't possible! This shouldn't be happening, yet!" he takes staggering steps towards me. "I don't get paid enough for this dead shite." I run for the door, trying to open it.

JPTD

The Doctor forces his way in and presses his ear to the wall.

"You're not allowed inside, sir!" Gwyneth yelled at him.

"There's something inside the walls." The Doctor said.

JPTD

I back against the door. The old woman's body rises from the other coffin. I gasp in fear.

JPTD

"The gas pipes. Something's living inside the gas." The Doctor told them.

JPTD

I lobbed a vase at the man. It does nothing but to cause him to stumble slightly. I rattle the handle frantically.

"Let me out! Please! Open the door!" I shouted, the fear rising in my voice.

JPTD

Gwyneth, the Doctor and Dickens hear her. Gwyneth closes her eyes in dismay.

"That's her." The Doctor runs off to her rescue. Dickens's follows.

JPTD

"Please, let me out!" I look back at the corpses that are walking towards me in fear.

JPTD

The Doctor charges past Sneed.

"This is my house!" Dickens charges past him too. He shakes his finger at Gwyneth as she runs after them. "I told you!"

JPTD

I'm still hammering on the door as the corpses get closer and closer.

"Let me out! Somebody, open the door! Open the door!" a hand is clasps over my mouth, muffling my high pitch scream. At that very moment, the Doctor kicks the door in.

"I think this is **MY** dance." He releases me from the corpse grip.

"It's a prank? It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence." Dickens said trying to make heads and tails of this.

"No, we're not. The dead are walking." He grins down at me, which I'm still panting and shaking. "Hi!"

"Hi!" I rolled my eyes at him and looked over to the man beside us. "Who's your friend?"

"Charles Dickens." I nodded my head slowly, "Oh. Okay."

"My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?" the Doctor to the corpses.

"_We're failing, open the rift, we're dying. Trapped in this form – cannot sustain – help us."_ Both of the corpses raise their heads to the ceiling. Blue gas leaves them with a wailing sound and both corpses fall to the floor. My eyes widen in shock, _'They're not even proper zombies, they're possessed corpses!'_ I shudder violently. We move to the sitting room.

Gwyneth poured us all tea while I was having a go at Sneed.

"First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man." The Doctor sniggers.

"I won't be spoken to like this!" I ignored him.

"Then you stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that isn't enough – you swan off! And left me to die! So come on – talk!" I yelled at him.

"It's not my fault, it's this house! It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back. And then the stiffs –" Dickens and I look mildly offended at him. ". . . the er, dear departed started getting restless."

"Tommyrot." Dickens tittered.

"You witnessed it! Can't keep the beggars down, sir! They walk. And it's the queerest thing that they hang on to scraps . . ." Gwyneth gives the Doctor his tea.

"Two sugars, sir just how you like it." The Doctor looks at her retreating back curiously.

"One old fella who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service! Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir! Just as she planned." Sneed said to us.

"Morbid fancy." Dickens scoffed.

"Oh, Charles, you were there." The Doctor said to him.

"I saw nothing but an illusion." Dickens looked to the Doctor.

"If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up." Dickens looks stunned. "What about the gas?" the Doctor asked Sneed.

"That's new, sir, never seen anything like that." Sneed told him.

"Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through." The Doctor looked around the house.

"What's the rift?" I asked him.

"A weak point in time and space. The connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time." I could tell he said the last part because of me.

"That's how I got the house so cheap." Sneed said with revelation. I watched Dickens sneak out of the room. "Stories going back generations. Echoes in the dark. Queer songs in the air and this feeling like a . . . shadow. Passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."

JPTD

Dickens wanders the corridors alone and examines the gas lamps.

"Impossible." Dickens goes back into the room where Jessa was locked up and takes the lid off Redpath's coffin, where Redpath is lying peacefully, his arms crossed across his chest. He waves his hands in front of his face, shakes him a bit, and fumbles around underneath the coffin, all the time oblivious to the Doctor watching him with his arms folded in the doorway.

"Checking for strings?" The Doctor asked him.

"Wires, perhaps? There must be some mechanism behind this fraud!" the Doctor unfolds his arms and walk over to Dickens.

"Oh, come on, Charles. All right. I shouldn't have told you to shut up." He places a hand on Dickens' shoulder. "I'm sorry. But you've got one of the best minds in the world. You saw those gas creatures."

"I cannot accept that." Dickens sniffed.

"And what does the human body do when it decomposes? It breaks down and produces gas. Perfect homes for these gas things – they can slip inside and use it as a vehicle. Just like your driver and his coach." The Doctor said.

"Stop it! Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?" Dickens asked.

"Not wrong. There's just more to learn." The Doctor shrugged.

"I've always railed against the fantasies. Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man, reveled in them – that's what they were. Illusions! The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices. Great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of spectres and jack o' lanterns. In which case – have I wasted my brief span here, Doctor? Has it all been for nothing?"

JPTD

Gwyneth was lighting another gas lamp when I came in and start washing up.

"Please, miss! You shouldn't be helping! It's not right!" she fluttered.

"Don't be daft. Sneed works you to death." I hand her the cloth to dry up. "How much do you get paid?"

"Eight pound a year, miss." I looked over to her in shock, "That much?"

"I know. I would've been happy with six." I stare at her dumbfounded.

"So, did you go to school or what?" she nodded.

"Of course I did. What do you think I am? An urchin? I went every Sunday. Nice and proper." I stared at the dish water in thought, "What – once a week?"

"We did sums and everything. To be honest, I hated every second." She whispered to me.

"Me too." We both laugh.

"Don't tell anyone, but one week, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own!" she said this as if this was completely outrageous.

"Oh, I never did that but my little sister did plenty of that. She'd go down to the shops with her mate Shareen. And they'd go and look at boys." Gwyneth stops laughing at once and looks scandalized.

"Well, I don't know much about that, miss." She turns back to the washing.

"Come on, times haven't changed that much! I bet you've done the same." I teased her.

"I don't think so, miss." She shakes her head.

"Gwyneth! You can tell me! Bet you've got your eye on someone." I look at her.

"I suppose. There is one lad . . ." I look at her extremely chuffed. "The butcher's boy. He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him!"

"Oh, I like a nice smile. Good smile, nice bum." I said without thinking. Gwyneth looks shocked.

"Well, I have never heard the like!" I just laugh, soon Gwyneth laughing too.

"Ask him out! Give him a cup of tea or something, that's a start." I suggested.

"I swear, it is the strangest thing, miss. You've got all the clothes and the breeding but you talk like some sort of wild thing!"

I shrugged, "Maybe I am. Maybe that's a good thing. You need a bit more in your life than Mr. Sneed."

"Ah, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in. Because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve." I instantly felt a bit guilty. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"Thank you, miss. But I'll be with them again, one day. Sitting with them in paradise. I should be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your dad's up there waiting for you too, miss." She said sweetly.

"Maybe." I nod, then realize, "Um, who told you he was dead?" Gwyneth realizes what she's said and turns quickly back to the washing. _'She says things like Luna.'_

"I don't know, must've been the Doctor." She said lightly.

"I've never talked to the Doctor about him." I look at her sharply.

"You've been thinking about him lately, more than ever." I nodded curtly, it was true. Rose had been bugging me to talk to her about the day dad died.

"Yes, I suppose so . . . how do you know all this?" my tone a bit lighter.

"Mr. Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you miss." We laugh.

"No, no servants where I'm from." Well, if you don't count my first life.

"And you've come such a long way." I stared at her questioningly.

"What makes you think so?" I asked her a bit wary.

"You're from London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that." She stares at me intently, "All those people rushing about. Half naked, for shame. And the noise . . . and the metal boxes racing past . . . and the birds in the sky . . . they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People flying. But's that's not all. You're older then you appear . . . your true people mourn for their lost heroine . . . holding sticks and muttering strange words. Witch craft! And you – you've flown so far, further than anyone! The things you've seen . . . the darkness . . . the big bad wolf –" she staggers backwards, looking afraid. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, miss!"

"It's . . . alright . . ." I paused, staring at her in confusion, for a minute I thought I saw Luna.

"Are you alright, miss?" Gwyneth asked me.

"I'm fine. It's just . . . you remind me of someone I lost a long time ago." I looked out the window, staring but not really seeing.

"What was their name? If you don't mind me asking, miss." I smiled slightly.

"Her name was Luna. Luna Lovegood. She was absolutely brilliant." Gwyneth stared at me for a moment.

"What happened to her?" I turned to her, looking at her cautiously. I bit my lip and worried it, I didn't know if I could trust her to keep what I was going to say a secret but she need to know the dangers of being a Seer and what it brings with it.

"My people got power hungry and wanted to get rid of the . . . normal people. They wanted the planet for our kind only but they had no idea how to get rid of them or what the normal people were planning. So they gathered up all of the people who had Seer blood in them, you could have been a full Seer or one without the power but still have Seer blood in you. Luna was more in the middle of the two. She could see things that others couldn't see but she didn't really see the future. The Ministry chose her for this ritual . . . they never really told us what it would do but that it would help her to see the future. But it was a lie, the Ministry drain her powers, killing her but Mione and I saw the truth that day and decide to put a stop to it." I wiped a tear away.

"I'm so sorry that happen to her." Gwyneth whispered. I sent a kind smile to her.

"Just be careful and cautious, Gwyneth." I told her.

"I can't help it – ever since I was a little girl. My mum said I had the sight." I grimace at the word 'sight'.

"But it's getting stronger. More powerful, is that right?" Gwyneth and I both jump as we turn to see the Doctor standing in the doorway.

"All the time, sir. Every night. Voices in my head." The Doctor moved to my side.

"You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key." He told her.

"I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table wrappers, all sorts." She looked at the both of us.

"Well, that should help. You can show us what to do." The Doctor grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the kitchen.

"What to do where, sir?" Gwyneth asked as she followed us.

"We're going to have a séance." We all seated around a tabled.

"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of the Mists. Down in Mid Town. Come. We must all join hands." Gwyneth takes a hold of one of my hands.

"I can't take part in this." Dickens gets up.

"Humbug? Come on, open mind." The Doctor takes my other hand.

"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I try to un-mask. Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing." I silently agreed, if she was anything like Luna then these things were using her, like the Ministry did to Luna.

"Now, don't antagonize her. I love a happy medium." The Doctor smiled at Gwyneth.

"I can't believe you just said that." I muttered.

"Come on, we might need you." The Doctor said to Dickens. He sits back down. "Good man. Now, Gwyneth. Reach out."

"Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits?" Dickens and I roll our eyes. "Come. Speak to us that we may relive your burden." She raises her eyes to the ceiling. A murmuring fills the room.

"Can you hear that?" I asked everyone.

"Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly." Dickens commented.

"Look at her." I whispered to myself, old memories of Luna started floating through my head.

"I feel them. I feel them!" the gas creatures begin to fill the room.

"What're they saying?" I whispered again.

"They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now look deep. Allow them through." I tighten my hold on the Doctor's hand when the memory of Luna's death popped up.

"I can't!" she told him.

"Yes you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link." Gwyneth looked almost pained. Then, suddenly she lowers her head and opens her eyes.

"Yes." Three gaseous figures appear behind her. Dickens' mouth drops open.

"Great God. Sprits from the other side!"

"The other side of the universe." The Doctor muttered. I looked at him from the corner of my eyes, sharply.

"_Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time, help us." _

"What do you want us to do?" I asked them, a tone of suspicious lit my voice.

"_The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."_

"What for? Why should we!" I started to understand what they wanted, it was Luna's death all over again. Gwyneth's name flickering in head, causing me a bit of pain.

"_We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction."_

"Why, what happened?" The Doctor asked them when I made no move to speak.

"_Once we had a physical form like you. But then the war came."_

"War? What war?" Dickens asked.

"_The Time War." _The Doctor and I glanced at each other. _"The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."_

"So that's why you the need the corpses." The Doctor said, his voice filled with realization.

"_We want to stand tall. To feel the sunlight. To live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste, give them to us!"_

"But we can't!" I exclaimed. The Doctor turn a sharp look on me."No, it's not right." I said strongly.

"It could save –" I interrupted him before he could finish.

"The dead are not theirs to use, if they really wanted to learn to live so badly they could do it on their planet, they could learn to adapt. Those things coming to Earth makes no sense unless they wanted to take it over using the dead to do it." The Doctor looked a bit cautious at the thought.

"_Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth."_ They disappear and Gwyneth collapsed forward onto the table. I get up immediately and go to her.

"Gwyneth!" I touched her shoulder, shaking it lightly. "Are you okay?"

"All true." I look up to Dickens. "It's all true." The Doctor is silent.

I was dabbing up Gwyneth's forehead as she lied asleep on the couch. Slowly, her eyes open and she fidgets. "It's alright. You just sleep." I cooed to her softly, brushing some hair away from her head.

"But my angels, miss. They came, didn't they? They need me?" The Doctor was leaning on a wall just behind me.

"They do need you, Gwyneth. You're they're only chance of survival." I turn around angrily at him, "I've told you, leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles." The Doctor leans his head back and sighs. I turn back to Gwyneth and offer her a drink.

"Drink this."

"Well, what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again. What are they?" Sneed asked.

"Aliens." The Doctor said simply.

"Like . . . foreigners, you mean?"

"Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there." He points skywards.

"Brecon?" I sniggered a bit behind my hand.

"Close. They've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes." The Doctor explains.

"Which is why they need the girl." They all looked to Gwyneth.

"They're not having her." I was getting angrier from the pain in my head and the memories.

"But she can help. Living on the rift, she's become part of it, she can open it up, make a bridge and let them through." The Doctor looked at me, I narrowed my eyes.

"Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers." I shook my head and bit my bottom lip, _'There's not enough bodies though.'_

"Good system. It might work." I get up and walk over to the Doctor. "You can't let them run around inside dead people!"

"Why not? It's like recycling." I stared at the Doctor in shock.

"Seriously though, you can't." I stressed.

"Seriously though, I can."

"It's wrong! Those bodies were living people! We should respect them even in death!" I hissed at him.

"Do you carry a donor card?" I looked him straight in the eye.

"No, I don't. Want to know why? Cause I can't! And that's different." I felt my eye's water.

"It is different, yeah. It's a different morality. Get used to it or go home." I go silent instantly. "You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying." He spoke to me in a softer tone.

"I don't care." I told him, my voice flat.

"Don't I get a say, miss?" Both the Doctor and I turn to look at her.

"Look. You don't understand." I said softly. I felt something poking around in my head, I immediately put my walls up.

"You would say that miss. Because that's very clear inside your head . . . I can't see what –" I turned a stony glare on her.

"Stay out of my head, Gwyneth." Everyone stared at me in shock from the coldness in my voice.

"I-I know my own mind. And the angels need me. Doctor, what do I have to do?" Gwyneth turned to the Doctor, though looking wary about her decision.

"You don't **HAVE** to do anything." He looked to her, seeing her cautiousness.

"They've been singing to me since I was a child. Sent by my mum on a holy mission. So tell me." The Doctor smiles at her.

"We need to find the rift." He approaches Sneed and Dickens. "This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr. Sneed. What's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?"

"That would be the Morgue." I look at all of them still disgruntled, "No chance you were gonna say 'gazebo', was there?" they all looked at me.

The key turns in the Morgue, and we all trouped in, led by the Doctor.

"Talk about Bleak House." The Doctor said. I glared at his back, "The thing is, Doctor – the Gelth won't succeed. I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869."

"Time's in flux. It's changing every second. Your cozy little world could be rewritten like that." He clicks his fingers together, my glare darkening. "Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing."

"Doctor – I think the room is getting colder."

"Here they come." The Gelth flood into the room. Their leader position itself in an archway. It had the voice of a child.

"_You have come to help! Praise the Doctor! Praise him!" _

"Promise you won't hurt her!" my voice broke at the end. I felt someone take my hand and squeeze it.

"_Hurry! Please. So little time. Pity the Gelth."_

"I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, alright?" the Doctor told them.

"My angels. I can help them live." Gwyneth moved towards the Gelth.

"Okay, where's the weak point?" The Doctor asked.

"_Here, beneath the arch."_ Gwyneth positions herself beneath the arch and repeats what they'd said. I rushed over to her.

"You don't have to do this." Gwyneth places her hands on my cheeks.

"My angels." She told me before whispering in my ear, "I'm sorry." I staggered backwards as she makes me claim her soul.

"_Establish the bridge, reach out of the void, let us through!"_

"Yes. I can see you! I can see you! Come!" Gwyneth shouted to the arch.

"_Bridgehead establishing."_

"Come! Come to me! Come to this world, poor lost souls!" she continued.

"_It has begun! The bridge is made!"_ Gwyneth's mouth opened and the Gelth poured out of it. _"She has given herself to the Gelth!"_

"No!" I whispered feeling a tear roll down my cheek, watching Gwyneth's soul leave her and accept death as a friend, just like Luna's did.

"There's rather a lot of them, eh?" Dickens stated.

"_The bridge is open. We descend."_ Suddenly, the figure becomes demonic. The gas turned from blue to red. _"The Gelth will come through in force."_

"You said that you were _few_ in number!" Dickens shout at it.

"_A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses."_ The bodies raised.

"Gwyneth . . . stop this! Listen to your master! This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, leave these things alone. I beg of you –"

"Mr. Sneed! Get back!" a corpse grabbed Sneed from behind and held him still while another of the Gelth fills his body through his mouth. The Doctor and I leapt back. Mr. Sneed looks up at us through blank, dead eyes.

"I think it's gone a little bit wrong." I turned a sharp look on the Doctor.

"_I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come. March with us." _

"No!" the corpses advance on the Doctor and me.

"_We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead_." They were backing us against a dungeon door.

"Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back! Now!" I grabbed the Doctors hand, turning his attention to me.

"She can't . . . Doctor, she can't." my bottom lip wavered, along with my voice. He stared at me.

"_Three more bodies. Make them vessels for the Gelth."_

"I—I can't! I'm sorry!" Dickens back towards the stairs. The Doctor looks behind him, spots the dungeon door, pushes me in there with him and slams it shut again so we're both locked in there. "It's too much for me! I'm so –" Dickens jumps and runs from the Morgue as one of the Gelth screeches and swoops at him. The corpses are clamoring to get into the dungeon.

"_Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth."_

"I trusted you. I pitied you!" the Doctor shouted at the Gelth. I buried my face into his chest, squeezing my eyes shut tight.

"_We don't want your pity! We want this world and all its flesh."_ They rattled the door.

"Not while I'm alive." The Doctor wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

JPTD

Dickens has run from the Morgue and rests panting against the door. The gaseous creatures swirl around the knocker, making it look exactly like the knocker from his story 'A Christmas Carol', and he runs again.

JPTD

The Doctor and I are flattened against the dungeon wall while the Gelth are rattling the door. I look towards the Doctor before punching him on the arm.

"I told you so!" I glared at him, for not listening to me earlier.

"I'm sorry." His eyes soft as he stared down at me.

JPTD

Dickens has run from the house altogether. One of the Gelth has followed him.

"Failing! Atmosphere hostile!" the figure dives into a gas lamp.

"Gas . . . gas!" Dickens said in realization.

JPTD

"It's 1869, how could . . . I could die?" I asked quietly, thinking. I could technically die for a few mintues while my body heals itself before coming back to life, it hurts like a bitch to come back to life so I try not to die as much as possible. I guess stay with the Doctor that won't happen. So these Gelth could take over my body if they killed me for a while.

"Time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the 20th century and die in the 19th and it's all my fault. I brought you here." The Doctor said to me.

"It's not your fault. I wanted to come." I tried to reassure him.

"What about me? I saw the fall of Troy! World War Five! I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party, now I'm going to die in a dungeon!" the Doctor look horrified, "In Cardiff!"

"It's not just dying. We'll become one of them." I said.

JPTD

Dickens rushes back into the house and begins to turn all the flames off the gas lamps, so that the gas is released into the air. Wheezing slightly, he covers his nose and mouth with a handkerchief.

JPTD

"We'll go down fighting, yeah?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He agreed.

"Together?" I questioned him.

"Yeah!" we linked hands. "I'm so glad I met you." I looked up at him, surprised.

"Me too." We smiled at each other. At that moment, Dickens rushes into the room.

"Doctor! Turn OFF the flame, turn UP the gas! Now fill the room, all of it, now!" he told us.

"What're you doing?" the Doctor questions.

"Turn it all on! Gas the place!" he turns another one on.

"Brilliant. Gas!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"What, so you choke to death instead?" I said sarcastically.

"Am I correct, Doctor? These creatures are gaseous!"

"Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!" The corpses all decide to turn on Dickens instead.

"I hope . . . oh, Lord. I hope that this theory will be validated soon." The corpses advance dangerously on him. "If not immediately."

"Plenty more!" the Doctor smashed a gas canister against the wall and all the creatures are sucked from the bodies with a scream.

"It's working." The Doctor and I were free to come out of the dungeon.

"Gwyneth! Send them back! They lied, they're not angels." The Doctor said to her.

"Liars." She said simply.

"Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!" The Doctor shouted at her.

"She . . . **CAN'T**" I chocked, not on the gas but on the sobs that wanted to escape. The Doctor looked at me worriedly.

"Charles, get her out." Dickens grabs my arm, but I shake him off.

"I'm not leaving her!" I cried to him.

"They're too strong." Gwyneth said to us.

"Remember that world you saw? Jessamine's World? All those people – none of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift." The Doctor told her.

"I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out." She said firmly. Her hand goes to her apron pocket and she takes out a box of matches. I rushed forward.

"No! You can't!" I could feel the tears rolling down my cheeks.

"Leave this place!" she hissed at me. The Doctor grabs my shoulders.

"Jessamine, get out, go now, I won't leave her while she's still in danger, now go!" Dickens takes a hold of my arms.

"No! You don't understand! Please, Doctor . . . I can't leave her again! I can't leave, Luna!" I sobbed, as Dickens and I left the Morgue. The Doctor holds his hand out for the matches.

"Now give that to me." Gwyneth doesn't respond.

Dickens leads me back through the dark house, filled with gas.

"This way!"

JPTD

The Doctor places his hand on Gwyneth's neck, feeling for a pulse. His face falls.

"I'm sorry." He places a kiss on her forehead. "Thank you." He runs from the Morgue. Gwyneth takes a match out of the box and waits for a few moments, to be sure the Doctor is safely out of the house. Then she strikes the match.

JPTD

The whole house goes up in flames, the Doctor diving out of the doorway only just in time to join Dickens and me. I stared at the Doctor, tears pouring down my cheeks. I shook my head and looked away. I heard the Doctor walk towards me. "I'm sorry. She closed the rift."

"At such a cost. The poor child." Dickens said. I still haven't turned to look at the Doctor.

"I did try, Jessamine, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes." My shoulders start to shake, but I make no reply. "I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch." I finally turned to him.

"I know." I covered my face with my hands. The Doctor pulled me into a tight hug.

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Even for you, Doctor." Dickens said.

"She saved the world. A servant girl. No one will ever know." I whispered. All three of us gazed at the burning house.

The Doctor, Dickens, and I have arrived back at the TARDIS.

"Right then, Charlie-boy, I've just got to go into my um . . . shed. Won't be long!" the Doctor fits the key in the lock.

"What're you going to do now?" I asked Dickens.

"I shall take the mail coach back to London. Quite literally post – haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital." He said to me.

"You've cheered up!" The Doctor said loudly.

"Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world and now I know I've just started! All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor! I'm inspired. I must write about them!" Dickens said enthusiastically.

"Do you think that's wise?" I asked.

"I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word! Tell the truth!" Dickens told us.

"Good luck with it. Nice to meet you." The Doctor shakes Dickens' hand. "Fantastic." He turns back to the TARDIS door.

"Bye, then. And, thanks." I kissed him on the cheek. Dickens looked taken-aback.

"Oh, my dear – how modern. Thank you, but, I don't understand – in what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?" he asked us.

"You'll see. In the shed." The Doctor opens the door of the TARDIS.

"Oh, my soul. Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this – who are you?" There was a pause.

"Just a friend. Passing through."

"But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor – do they last?" he asked the Doctor.

"Oh, yes!" the Doctor answered.

"For how long?"

"Forever!" I said. Dickens tries to look pleased and modest at the same time.

"Right. Shed. Come on, Jessamine . . ." we both turn to the door.

"In – in the box? Both of you?" Dickens said suggestively.

"Down boy. See ya!" the Doctor laughed. We entered the TARDIS and shut the door after us.

"Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghost?" I asked the Doctor.

"In a week time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies. Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story." We both look at the screen where we can see Dickens was still standing outside.

"Oh, no. He was so nice." I told him.

"But in your time, he was already dead! We've brought him back to life! He's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie-boy. Let's give him one last surprise." He hits a button and the engines rev up. We smiled as we watched Dickens' face when the TARDIS disappears before his eyes. After a while the Doctor turns to me.

"Jessamine." I looked up to him.

"Yes, Doctor?" I tilted my head just a bit.

"Who's Luna?" I frozed, my mind went blank before the memories came to the forefront of my mind, full force, again. I grimaced in pain, sadness, and anger.

"She was a friend, from my first life." I left after that, going back to the closet to change out of the dress.

JPTD

Laughing, Dickens' walks away from where the TARDIS stood. He emerges into the Square.

"Merry Christmas, sir."

"Merry Christmas to you. God bless us! Everyone!"


	5. Aliens of London

The TARDIS materialized outside of Powell Estate. Both the Doctor and I step out. The Doctor leans against the door and folds his arms.

"How long have I been gone?" I asked him.

"About 12 hours." We laughed.

"Right, I won't be long, I'm going to see mum and Rose." I looked over to him.

"What're you going to tell them?" he asked me.

"I don't know! I've been to the year 5 billion . . . and only been gone, what, 12 hours?" the Doctor made a sound that was a combination of a laugh and a snort. "No, I'll just tell them I was out about walking of some night terrors. See you later!" I began to walk off, then turn back. "Oh, don't you disappear." The Doctor gave me a look that said 'as if I would' and I run off in the direction of the flats. He settles himself against the TARDIS to wait for me. I run up the stairs to my flat, grinning.

JPTD

The Doctor wanders around with his arms folded outside and kicks an empty bottle across the yard. He spots a poster taped to a lamppost. He walks over to and reads the writing, 'Can You Help?' and sees a photograph of Jessa.

JPTD

I open the door to my flat.

"I'm back! It was just night terrors again. Are you guys in?" Mum walks out of the kitchen holding a cup of tea, followed by Rose. "So, what's been going on? How've you guys been?" they both looked as if they've seen a ghost. "What? What's those faces for? It's not the first time I've stayed out all night." Mum drops her cup of tea and it smashes on the floor.

JPTD

Outside, the Doctor gets the gist of the poster and runs to the flats.

JPTD

"It's you." Rose said like she couldn't believe it.

"Of course it's me!" I exclaimed to her.

"Oh, my God. It's you. Oh my God." Mum seemed shaken and teary. She throws her arms around me, soon Rose joins. I look at them alarmed. Then, over mum's and Rose's sobbing shoulders, I notice several variations of the same 'Where is Jessa?' posters. At that moment, the Doctor comes crashing in.

"It's not 12 hours, it's er . . . 12 months. You've been gone a whole year." He laughs apologetically while we all looked at him, stunned. "Sorry." Mum looks back at me, stroking my hair, while Rose nuzzles her head into my neck.

JPTD

A small boy is spraying the words 'Bad Wolf' onto the side of the TARDIS. He then picks up his bike and rides off.

JPTD

"The hours we've sat here. Days and weeks and months all by ourselves. We thought you were dead. And where were you? Travelling. What the hell does that mean? Travelling? That's no sort of answer." I was sitting on the couch with Rose holding my right arm hostage in both of hers, her head still in the crook of my neck, while mum gave me all she's got. A policeman was sitting in armchair. "You ask her. She won't tell me! That's all she says. Travelling." She said to the policeman.

"That's what I was doing, mum."

"When your passport's still in the drawer? It's just one lie after another." mum gestured furiously. I pried Rose off and stood in front of her, putting my hands on her shoulders.

"I'm not lying, mum. I would never do that to you, you know that. I meant to phone, I really did, I just . . . I forgot." I said to soothe her.

"What, for a year? You forgot for a year? And Rose and I left sitting here? I just don't believe you. Why won't you tell me where you've been?" she places her hands to cup my cheeks. She was close to tears.

"Actually, it's my fault. I sort of er, employed Jessa as my companion." The Doctor spoke up from his seat in the other armchair. _'Again with the Jessa, why does he do that?'_

"When you say 'companion', is this a sexual relationship?" the policeman asked.

"No!" both the Doctor and I shouted in union. Mum lets go of my face.

"Then what is it? Because you, you waltz in here all charms and smiles, and the next thing I know, she vanishes of the face of the earth! How old are you then? 40? 45? What, you find her on the Internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?" she advanced dangerously on the Doctor.

"I **AM** a Doctor!"

"Prove it! Stitch this, mate!" she slaps him hard around the face. The Doctor groans loudly while I roll my eyes. Mum and Rose were hugging, once I turned around.

"Did you think about us at all?" Rose asked me while they both are crying. I stand back slightly.

"I did! All the time! But . . ." Mum pulled away from Rose and engulfed me in a hug.

"One phone call. Just to know that you were alive." She sobbed into my shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I really am." I held out a hand to Rose, once she grabbed it, I dragged her in to the hug.

"Do you know what terrifies me, is that you still can't say. What happened to you, Jessa? What could be so bad that you can't tell me, sweetheart? Where were you?" I couldn't answer her.

JPTD

I went to the roof of the building and sat on the wall. The Doctor followed and leaned against it.

"I can't tell them. I can't even begin . . . they're never going to forgive me. And I missed a year? Was it good?"

"Middling." The Doctor shrugged.

"You're so useless." I sighed.

"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?" the Doctor asked.

"Hell no, I'm not staying here but I can't do that to them again, though."

"Well, they're not coming with us." I bursts out laughing at that thought and the Doctor joins in.

"No chance." I said after I calmed down.

"I don't do families."

"She slapped you!"

"900 years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother." The Doctor told me.

"Your face." I recalled the face he made after mum slapped him.

"It hurt!"

"You're so gay!" the Doctor rubbed his cheek, offended. "When you say 900 years, that means your age right?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Well, if you count my age from my first life and this one. I would be 63 years old. Well technically I'm now 24 so it would now be 64 years old . . . God I'm old! " The Doctor turns to me.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was forty when I activated the Time Lock. I was also married to a wonderful man and we had a fifteen year son. I miss them so much, I hope they know that, that I miss them and love them." I felt a tear fall. "My mum was right – that is one hell of an age gap." I switch the topics and jump off the wall. "Every conversation with you just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and I'm the only person on planet earth who knows they exist." As if right on cue, a spacecraft narrowly misses our heads as it falls from the sky and heads for Central London. It smashes into Big Bens, then lands with a splash in the Thames. The Doctor and I stand up with our mouths open. "Oh, that's just not fair." The Doctor laughs gleefully, grabs my hand, and pulls me off in the direction of the action.

It's complete mayhem on the streets. The Doctor and I arrive on the scene.

"It's blocked off."

"We're miles from the centre. The scene must be grid locked. The whole of London must be closing down." I told him.

"I know, I can't **BELIEVE** I'm here to see this! This is fantastic!" he seems really happy about this.

"Did you know this was going to happen?" I asked.

"Nope!"

"Do you recognize the ship?"

"Nope!"

"Do you know why it crashed?"

"Nope!"

"Oh, I'm so glad I've got you." I said sarcastically.

"I bet you are! This is what I travel for, Jessamine! To see history happening right in front of us." Well, he obviously didn't catch my sarcasm.

"Well, let's go and see it! Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS."

"Better not. They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London, don't want to shove another one on top." He told me.

"Yeah, but yours looks like a big blue box. No one's going to notice. I could put a notice-me-not charm on it?" I said.

"You'll be surprised, an emergency like this – there'll be all kinds of people watching. Trust me, the TARDIS stays where it is. No magic, Jessamine, you'll get weak again." I looked at him distinctly disgruntled.

"So, history's happening and we're stuck here. I can do it, it's just been awhile since I used magic, not exactly been a magic user this life when there's no one else." I grumbled.

"Yes, we are. And I understand, but baby steps, we'll just do baby steps first, Jessamine." He places a hand on my shoulder.

"Alright, baby steps." I sighed, "But we could always do what everybody else does." The Doctor looks at me questioningly. "We could watch it on TV." The Doctor looks as though this is a completely new idea to him.

JPTD

"Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London. Police reinforcements are drafted in form across the country to control wide-spread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchinson is at the scene."

The Doctor and I are watching the TV intently.

"The police urge the public not to panic. There's a help line number on screen right now if you're worried about friends or family."

We change the channel over to an American news channel.

"The military are on the lookouts for more spaceships. Until then, all flights in North American air space have been grounded."

We turn it back to News 24.

"The army are sending divers into the wreck of the spaceship. No one knows what they're going to find."

Back to the American channel.

"The President will address the nation live from the White House. But the Secretary General has asked that people watch the skies."

Mum comes in to give me a cup of tea that I asked for. I took a sip and hummed in happiness at the taste of honey sweeten peppermint tea.

"I've got no choice! Either I make him welcome, or I run the risk of never seeing her again!" Mum and her friend Marianna were babbling on angrily at the other.

"Oi! I'm trying to listen!" the Doctor yelled to them and turn the volume up a bit more.

". . . his currents whereabouts. News is just coming in, we can go to Tom at the embankments." They show the reporter, "They've found a body."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"It's unconfirmed but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore."

Mum enters the room giving a bottle of wine to a couple of people. "Oh, guess who asked me out – Billy Crewe." The Doctor and I shake our heads.

"Unconfirmed reports say that the body is of extra-terrestrial origin. An extraordinary event unfolding here live in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary. The whereabouts is yet unknown."

The TV channels a few times and comes to a rest on Blue Peter.

"And when you've stuck your things on, you can cover the whole lot . . ."

I turned to see the Doctor trying to wrestle the TV remote off a toddler that's on his lap. I get up and sit beside him to see that it's Jeremy.

"Ooo, look at that. Then, ice it, any colour you want – here's one I made a little bit earlier – look at that. Your very own spaceship ready to eat. And there's something a little extra special –"

The Doctor changes the channel back to News 24.

". . . in hospital. We still don't know whether it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything. But the body has been brought here, Albian Hospital, the roads closed off – it's the closest to the river."

Jeremy hops off the Doctors lap and stands in front of the TV screen. The Doctor points violently sideways. "Go on!" I slapped him on the shoulder and stand up, walking over to Jeremy.

"Now, that's not a very handsome look on your face, Jeremy. Let's see if I can turn this frown." I picked him up and then flipped him upside down holding him by his legs. "Upside down!" I laughed at his child giggles. I switched him around and he hugged me, giggling in my ear. "Now there's that handsome look I was wanting." I put him back on the ground. "Want to see who can count the most stars, Jeremy?" I asked, he nodded his head and ran to my bedroom. I ran after him, giggling on my way, missing the Doctor's look at me and the rest of the news.

JPTD

A group of soldiers enter the mortuary inside the hospital. General Asquith approaches the table where the alien lies covered with a cloth.

"Let's have a look then." Dr. Sato pulls back the cloth. "Good God. That's real? It's not a hoax or a dummy, or a . . .?" Dr. Sato shakes her head.

"I've x-rayed the skull. It's wired up inside like nothing I've ever seen before. No one could make this up." She said.

"We've got experts being flown in. Until they arrive . . . get that out of sight." She nods and covers the alien again. Two men shut the door of a mortuary shelf.

Dr. Sato runs after Asquith as he makes to leave.

"Excuse me, sir!" the General stops and turns to face her. "I know it's a state of emergency and there's a lot of rumours flying around, but is it true, what they're saying? About the Prime Minister?" the General doesn't answer her. He leaves without another word, followed by soldiers. She stares after them then hurries in the opposite direction.

JPTD

"Mystery still surrounds the whereabouts of the Prime Minister. He's not been seen since the emergency began. The opposition are criticizing his lack of leadership. Hold on –"

A man gets out of a car and enters 10 Downing streets.

"Oh – that's Joseph Green, MP for Hartley Dale. He's chairman of the parliamentary commission on the monitoring of sugar standards in exported confectionary. With respect, hardly the most important person right nom."

When Joseph Green enters 10 Downing Street, his hand is shaken by the Junior Secretary.

"Indra Ganesh. Junior secretary. I'll be your liaison." Indra said.

"Where the hell is he?" Green demanded.

"If we could talk in private, sir. Follow me, upstairs." A woman approaches them from behind.

"Excuse me! Harriet Jones. MP for Flydale North." She flashed them her badge.

"I'm sorry, can it wait?" Indra asked.

"But I did have an appointment at 3:15."

"Yes. And a spaceship crashed in the middle of London. I think the schedule might have changed." The two men turn away from her and make their way up the stairs. "You've heard about the alien body, sir?"

"Never mind that, where is he? Where's the Prime Minister?" Green asked.

"No one knows, sir. He's disappeared. I have to inform you with the city grid locked and the cabinet stranded that makes you acting Prime Minister. With immediate effect."

"Oh, Lord. Oh, hold on –" Green farts loudly, "Pardon me . . . nervous stomach. Anyway . . ." They run up the stairs. Indra indicates a fat blonde woman.

"Margaret Blaine. She's with MI5." Indra introduces her to Green.

"There's no more information, sir. I personally escorted the Prime Minister from the cabinet room to his car – this is Oliver Charles, transport liaison." She point to the man.

"The car's disappeared. There's no record of it, sir – it literally vanished." Charles told him.

"Right, er – inside, tell me everything." Green ushers them into the cabinet room.

"Er, sir?" Green turns around and Indra holds a red case out to him. "The emergency protocols. Detailing the actions to be taken by the government of Great Britain in the event of an alien incursion."

"Right! Good!" Green's farts. "Blimey!" Indra looks slightly worried. "Pardon me." Green takes the case. "Get to work, eh?" he enters the room after Margaret and Oliver and slams the case down on the long table. He then looks across at them and starts laughing. A few seconds later they join in. Soon, they are all in hysterics.

JPTD 

It's dark when the Doctor slips outside the back door of my flat. I emerged after him.

"And where do you think you're going?" I asked him.

"Nowhere! It's just a bit human in there for me. History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top up cards for half price. I'm off on a wander, that's all." He said to me.

"Right – there's a spaceship on the Thames and you're just 'wandering'." I used my fingers to make the quote signs when I said wandering.

"Nothing to do with me! It's not an invasion! That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of decent, colour of smoke, everything! It's perfect!"

"So? I think it's a bit too perfect, if you asked me." I said to him.

"So maybe this is it! First contact! The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering because you've **GOT** to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay! Now you can expand!" he laughed in delight. I smiled. "You don't need me – go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum and sister." He begins to walk away.

"Promise you won't disappear?" I asked in a small voice but still loud for him to hear. The Doctor stops and turns around again. He feels his jacket pockets.

"Tell you what – TARDIS key." He hands it to me, "About time you had one." He grins. "See you later!" he leaves. I look down at the key in my hand, closed my fist around it and walk back to the flat door, looking distinctly chuffed.

JPTD

The Doctor leaves the block of flats. There's a raucous party on the third floor with a banner hanging over the balcony saying "THE ALIENS HAVE LANDED". A banner hanging from another window says "WELCOME TO OUR WORLD". A woman spots the Doctor and calls down to him.

"Hey, gorgeous! Come back and join the party!"

Mickey emerges onto another balcony higher up. He picks up a trainer, smells it, and makes a face of disgust. He watches the Doctor look at a sign in a shop window saying "ELLO ET" and then does a double take as the Doctor walks up to the TARDIS taking a bunch of keys out of his pocket.

"Oh my God!" he runs back inside taking the smelly trainers with him.

The Doctor enters the TARDIS, grinning. He runs to the console, smacks down a few buttons and turns a handle and beams up at it when it starts to move.

Outside, the TARDIS begins to disappear just as Mickey runs out of the flats.

"Oi, Doctor! Doctooooooooooooooor!" he sprints up to the TARDIS and throws himself at it, but just ends up hitting the heavily graffiti corrugated iron behind it and falls backwards from the impact. He gets up again and brushes himself down, casting furtive looks around him to make sure no one saw him. He then walks off with as much dignity as he can muster.

JPTD

The console starts to smoke. Looking slightly put-out, the Doctor hits it a couple of times with a hammer. Amazingly, this helps, and the Doctor kisses the hammer and gazes up at the console with a childish beam on his face.

JPTD

10 Downing Street is heavily guarded on the outside.

Harriet Jones places a cup of coffee on Indra's desk. He looks up at her.

"I bet no one's brought you a coffee." She laughs slightly.

"Thank you." He nods his head.

"Pleasure." He picks the cup up. Harriet doesn't leave, but looks down at him expectantly.

"You still can't go in."

"Damn, you've seen through my cunning plan." She snaps her fingers.

"Look, I'm sorry. It's just impossible." Indra gets up.

"Not even for two minutes?" he shakes his head. "I don't get many chance to walk these corridors. I'm hardly one of the babes – just a faithful back bencher. And I know we've had a brave new world land right on our doorstep, and that's wonderful. I think that's probably wonderful. Nevertheless, ordinary life keeps ticking away." She rifles through her handbag and pulls out a folder. "I need to enter this paper." Joseph Green, Margaret Blaine and Oliver Charles emerge from the cabinet room. "Oh! Mr. Green, sir, I know you're busy, but could you put this on the next cabinet agenda?"

"What is it?" he asked her.

"Cottage hospitals –" Green looks at Indra in alarm, who gives an apologetic and resigned wave of his hand. "I've worked out a system whereby cottage hospitals do not have to be excluded from centers of excellence. You see, my mother's in the Flydale infirmary. That's my constituency – tiny lisle place, you wouldn't know it – but to give me a chance to –"

"By all the saints, get some perspective woman! I'm busy." All of them, including Indra, file out of the room, each giving her a funny look as they pass. Harriet is left alone holding her papers. She looks to make sure they are really gone, then slips into the cabinet room. Harriet places her papers on the table, on top of the emergency protocols. She then seems to change her mind and picks them up again. She opens the case and puts it inside instead. Satisfied, she is just about to close it again when she spots the folder with "Emergency Protocols – Classified Information" written on the front. She sits on the chair in front of the case and opens the folder. She begins to read the first page with a look of awe on her face.

JPTD

Dr. Sato settles herself in front of her desk, picks a pen up and begins to write. She hears a thumping noise in the distance. She pauses for a moment but then decides to ignore it. Then she hears it again. She turns around. The thumping repeats itself over and over again. It seems to be coming from the place the alien was put. She stares at it warily.

JPTD

The Doctor emerges from the TARDIS, which seems to have landed squashed up in a small storeroom. He turns on his sonic screwdriver, which makes a loud buzzing nosie. He turns it off again hurriedly.

"Shh!" he said to it.

JPTD

Dr. Sato edges towards the door of the alien's cupboard. The thumping has become even more frantic, as though something is running inside, banging against the walls.

JPTD

The Doctor finishes unlocking the door, puts his sonic screwdriver away and opens it. The Doctor finds himself in a room where about 20 soldiers are sitting around talking and laughing. They fall silent when he opens the door. There is a pause while they all stare at each other, then they all leap to their feet and point their guns at him. The Doctor grins. Again.

JPTD

Dr. Sato approaches the door. She pulls it open and screams.

JPTD

Upon hearing the scream, the Doctor stops smiling and runs to the door.

"Defense part delta! Come on, move, move!" all the soldiers follow him from the room in the direction of the scream. They run down the corridors. The Doctor spots Dr. Sato cowering on the floor.

"It's alive!" the Doctor turns to the men behind him.

"Spread out. Tell the perimeter it's a lock down." He turns to Dr. Sato's side and holds her hands.

"My God – it's still alive." The men are still standing there watching them.

"Do it!" they run off and start searching the building. The Doctor turns back to Dr. Sato. Blood is leaking out from under her hairline.

"I swear it was dead."

"Coma – shock – hibernation – anything. What does it look like?" There was a slight sound from behind him. He turns around quickly. "It's still here." He stands up and beckons another soldier into the room. He walks forward quietly, looking for the source of the sound. When he hears another rattling, he drops to his knees and crawls to peer behind the desk. From the other side of the desk, the face of a pig peers back at him, snorting. "Hello!" the pig squeals in terror and runs across the room. The soldier readies his gun. "Don't shoot!" the pig runs along the corridor. One of the soldiers points his gun at it and shoots before the Doctor can stop him. "What did you do that for? It was scared!" the soldier looks from him to the pig in alarm. The Doctor crouches down to look at the pig. "It was scared." He strokes the pig as it dies.

JPTD

Harriet hears voices approaching the cabinet.

"I've got the White House phoning me direct because Downing Street won't answer their calls! This is outrageous! We haven't even started the vaccination prota. This is appalling. The nations of the world watching the United Kingdom!" the voice of Asquith shouted.

"Well, it has all been a bit of a shock." Came Green's voice.

"This is the greatest crisis in modern history and you've done nothing! Your behaviour has been shameful, sir. You're supposed to be in charge and we need positive leadership. The capital's ground to a halt." They enter the room. Harriet disappears into a cupboard just in time. "Furthermore, we can only assume that the Prime Minister's disappearance is the direct result of the hostile alien action. And what have you been doing? Nothing."

"Sorry! Sorry. Uh . . . I thought I was Prime Minister now." Green said.

"Only by default." Asquith grumbled.

"Ooooh, that's not fair. I've been having such fun." The General looks outraged.

"You think this is **FUN**?"

"It's a hoot, this job." Joseph, Margaret and Oliver all started to laugh.

"Honestly! It's super!" Oliver farts.

"Oh! S'cuse me!" he farts again. "Ooo!" they burst out laughing again.

"What's going on here? And where's the rest of the cabinet? Why haven't they been air lifted in?" Asquith asked.

"Cancelled it. They'd only get in the way." Green farts. "Oh, there I go." He farts twice more, heartily. Margaret joins in.

"Oh, and me! I'm shaking my booty." More hysterical laughter is punctuated by farts.

"Sir! Under section 5 of the emergency protocols, it is my duty to relieve you of command." Green stops laughing and looks up at the General darkly. "And by God, I'll put this country under marshal law if I have to."

"Oh, I'm **SCARED**. I mean, that's hair raising. I mean, literally. Look!" He unzips his forehead. A bright blue light shines from the gap. Bewildered, the General looks at the other two, who also unzip their foreheads. Where she's watching from a crack through the door, Harriet's eyes widen in shock. There are some disgusting and worrying noises from the cabinet room and Harriet leans back against the wall of the cupboard, horrified.

JPTD

Dr. Sato and the Doctor are standing over the pig's body.

"I just assumed that's what alien's look like. But you're saying it's an ordinary pig? From Earth?"

"More like a mermaid. Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds by taking the skull of a cat and gluing it to a fish and calling it a mermaid. Now, someone's taken a pig, opened up its brain, stuck bits on . . . then they strapped it in that ship and made it drive bomb. It must've been terrified. They've taken this animal and turned it into a joke." The Doctor walked around the table.

"So it's a fake. A pretend. Like the mermaid. But the technology augmenting its brain . . . it's like nothing on Earth. It's alien. Aliens are faking aliens. But why would they do that . . .?" she turns to face the Doctor, only to find he has vanished, "Doctor?" she hurries from the room after him. Dr. Sato looks up and down a long corridor. "Doctor?" she turns as she hears the sound of the TARDIS engines. Obviously, she doesn't know what the sound is.

JPTD

Our sitting room was getting extremely crowded for my taste. Mum raised her wine glass in a toast.

"Here's to the Martians!" she shouted. I rolled my eyes.

"The Martians!" everyone repeated. Suddenly the laughter dies away. I look around to see why everyone gone quiet. I looked in the direction they were to see Mickey standing in the doorway, staring at me. I sit up quickly.

"I was gonna come and see you." He just stares at me. I felt a bit unnerved.

"Someone owes Mickey an apology." I heard a woman say.

"I'm sorry." I immediately said after that.

"Not you." The same woman said. She looked at mum.

"It's not my fault. Be fair. What was I supposed to think?" mum gives Mickey a look and walks into the kitchen.

"You disappear – who do they turn to? Your best mate. Five times, I was taken in for questioning. Five times. No evidence, of course there couldn't be, could there. And then I get her and even my own girlfriend – your mother and sister." He points to mum and Rose, who both rolled their eyes. I looked at Rose in shock. "Whispering around the estate – pointing the finger – stuff through my letterbox – and all 'cos of you."

"I didn't think I'd be gone so long." I admitted to him a bit guilty at my family actions to him.

"And I waited for you, Jessa! Twelve months. Waiting for you and the Doctor to come back." He looked me dead straight in the eyes.

"Hold on, you knew about the Doctor? Why didn't you tell us?" Mickey noticed someone trying to listen through the window into the kitchen. He slams them shut and closes the door.

"Yeah, yeah. Why not, Jessa? Huh? How could I tell them where you went?" he said mockingly.

"Tell me now, Jessa!" Mum tone started to sound demanding.

"I might as well, 'cos you're stuck here. The Doctor's gone. Just now, that box thing just faded away." I snapped my head to him, fear starting to crawl through my veins.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"He's left you. Some boyfriend **HE** turned out to be." I run from the kitchen, grabbing my leather jacket from the back of the door on my way out. Mickey and Rose following me. Mum stays sitting down, probably frustrated. The three of us arrive at the spot where the TARDIS was parked, standing there.

"He wouldn't just go, he promised me." I said trying to deny the truth.

"Oh, he dumped you, Jessa. Sailed off into space. How does it feel, huh? Now you're left behind with the rest of us Earthlings. Get used to it." Mickey said spitefully.

"But he would have said." Mum walks over to us.

"What're you two chimps going on about? What's going on? What's this Doctor done now?" Mickey chortles.

"He's vamoosed!"

"He's not! 'Cos he gave me this!" I said angrily at him. I show him the TARDIS key. Mickey gives me a 'so what?' shrug. "He's not my boyfriend, Mickey, he's better than that. He's much more important then –" I break off as the TARDIS key starts to glow in time with the sound of the TARDIS engines. "I said so." I may have sounded a bit smug. The engines get louder. I turn to my mum and sister. "Mum! Rose! Guys, go inside. Guys, don't stand there, just go inside. Just – mum, Rose, go –" they weren't listening to me. They stared transfixed over my shoulder, where the TARDIS was appearing out of thin air. The engines grind to a halt. Mickey points to the TARDIS meaningfully.

"Uh?" I rolled my eyes at him. Rose and mum stare at the TARDIS in amazement.

"How'd you do that, then?" Rose asked. I look at them warily. I enter the TARDIS, finding the Doctor looking at a computer screen.

"Alright, so I lied! I went and had a look, but the whole crash landing's a fake – I thought so, it's just too perfect . . . liked you said. I mean, 'hitting Big Ben' come on, so I thought let's go and have a look –"

"My family's here." I interrupted him. The door creaks open and Rose, Mickey, and mum enter. The Doctor looks around.

"Oh, that's **JUST** what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic!" he pointed at me.

"You ruined my life, Doctor." The Doctor spins smoothly around to face him. "They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you."

"See what I mean? Domestic." He said to me. The Doctor spins back to face the computer screen. Mickey takes a few steps towards him.

"I bet you don't even remember my name!" Mickey shouted.

"Rickey." The Doctor said with a tilt of his head.

"It's Mickey." Mickey ground out.

"No, it's Rickey."

"I think I know my own name."

"You **THINK** you know your own name? How stupid are you?" Rose and mum, whom have been looking around the TARDIS with bewildered expressions, turn and run outside again.

"Mum, Rose, don't!" I turned to the Doctor, "Don't go anywhere!" then to Mickey, "Don't start a fight!" I run out the doors in pursue. "Mum, Rose, it's not like that! He's not – I'll be up in a minute, hold on!" I run back inside the TARDIS and back to the Doctor's side, where he's looking at his monitor again. "That was a **REAL** spaceship?"

"Yep!"

"So, it's all a pack of lies? What is it then, are they invading?" Mickey stands on his tip-toes to peer over our shoulders to look at the screen.

"Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert." He said.

"Good point! So, what're they up to?" the Doctor said mildly impressed.

JPTD

On the TV, a new channel – footage of the spaceship crash landed in the Thames.

"As the crisis continues and the government shows remarkable lack of leadership, paranoia sweeps the country."

Jackie is sitting on the end of her bed, looking frustrated and restless. She sighs and kneads her forehand.

"There have been at least three reports of public assaults on people publicly identified as aliens."

Jackie's look of anxiety increases.

"And now back to Tom Kitchenenson."

She falls back onto the bed, her hands over her face. Rose comes in and lays beside her.

"Are there more ships to come?"

Jackie and Rose turn their attention to the television.

"What is their intention? The authorities are now asking if **ANYONE** knows **ANYTHING**. If any pervious sighting has been made, then call this number."

Rose hands Jackie the telephone.

"We need your help."

Jackie dials the number on the screen. The first two times it is engaged. The third time, she manages to get through. "Yes! I've seen one. I really have – an alien. And she's with him! My oldest daughter, she's with him. And she's not safe. Oh, my God . . . she's not safe." Jackie exhales and sits back down on the foot of the bed and takes one of Rose's hands. "I've seen an alien. And I know his name, he's called 'The Doctor'."

JPTD

The words 'The Doctor' are typed into a computer.

JPTD

"It's a box. A blue box."

JPTD

'Blue Box' is typed in.

JPTD

"She called it a 'TARDIS'."

JPTD

'TARDIS' is typed in. An alarm goes off.

Indra enters at a run – the computer screen is flashing the words 'RED ALERT – THE DOCTOR'.

JPTD 

Inside the TARDIS, Mickey was peering curiously down at the Doctor, where he was once more, wedged under the console.

"So, what're you doing down there?" Mickey asked.

"Rickey." It was short of muffled, because he was holding the sonic screwdriver between his teeth.

"Mickey." I sighed at their childish bickering. The Doctor takes the sonic screwdriver out of his mouth, making himself clearer.

"Rickey." Mickey rolls his eyes. "If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?" I had to agree to the 'magnificent' part, she was absolutely wonderful and a beauty. The humming sang a joyous tune, making me smile up at the ceiling.

"I suppose not . . ." Mickey muttered. I wondered if the humming could turn to talking like the Face of Bo.

"Of course, my Sorceress."

"The bleedin' fuck!" I yelled as I felled off my seat on the railing. I could hear girlish giggles in my head. "Oi! It ain't funny, that bloody hurt, ya stupid box." I rubbed my head, the giggling just getting louder. The Doctor's and Mickey's faces appeared above the rail, looking down at me in worry and confusion.

"Jessa-"

"Mine?" They both looked at the other in distaste. "Right. What happened, Jessamine?" the Doctor asked as he hopped over the rail. He looked over my head, I flinched away when he touch the bump, "Sorry."

"It's alright. I was just . . . I dunno. You called the TARDIS magnificent and I agreed, she is absolutely wonderful and a beauty is what I thought afterwards. Then the humming sang such a joyous tune after that," I looked over to the Doctor, staring him right in the eye, "It made me smile, Doctor. She sounded so happy, so very happy." I look up to the ceiling again, tilting my head to the side, "I was just thinking, wondering really, if the humming could turn to talking, like the Face of Bo." The Doctor helped me stand up.

"And that caused you to fall?" he ask with a raised eyebrow. I shook my head.

"No." I looked back to him, "She spoke to me, Doctor. The TARDIS spoke to me."

"What did she say?" he took me by the shoulders, his face unreadable.

"Of course, my Sorceress." I told him, "Is something wrong, Doctor?" he smiled at me and pulled me into a hug. "Doctor?" I could still hear the humming, she sounded so, I can't even explain how she sounds; there are no words for it.

"Nothing's wrong, Jessamine, you're just . . . magnificently different but in a good way." The Doctor looked a bit anxious when he finish. I just smile brightly at him and shake my head.

"I'm just a special case, right Doctor?" I teased like I did on platform one.

"Oh, no doubt there, Jessamine." He teased back, a beaming smile on his face. Suddenly, someone clear their throat, making me and the Doctor jump away from each other. We looked up to the rail to see Mickey still standing there.

"Right." The Doctor looks to him, "Shut it, then!" he goes back to the controls and puts the sonic screwdriver back between his teeth. Mickey gives him the evil eye, I move back to the railing and hop up beside him.

"Some friend you've got." He said loud enough for the Doctor to hear.

"He's just winding you up." Mickey still looks slightly upset and doesn't answer, "I am sorry."

"It's okay." He looks away from me.

"I am, though!" I said earnestly.

"Every day, I looked. On every street corner, wherever I went, looking for a blue box for a whole year." boy, does he make me feel like an absolute shite.

"It's only been a few days for me. It's hard to tell time in here, but I swear it's been a few days since I left you guys." I looked over to the Doctor, watching him work.

"Not enough time to miss me, then?" Mickey asked, the Doctors eyes snapped over to us. I looked back to Mickey.

"Of course, I missed you." I smiled at him.

"I missed you." He replied. I looked away again back to the Doctor.

"So, erm . . . you and Rose are obviously over. So in twelve months, have you been seeing anyone else?" I ask, actually wanting to know how he's been since I was gone. Mickey was always my best mate since pre-school and he would always be.

"No." his face falls.

"Kay . . ." obviously wrong thing to ask.

"Mainly because everyone thinks I murdered you." Yes, most defiantly the wrong thing to ask.

"Right." I said slowly, shrugging my shoulders at the Doctor when he raised an eyebrow.

"So . . . now that you've come back . . . are you gonna stay?" he leans in like he was going to kiss me, but before he could the sound of sparks came from beneath the console, breaking me from the moment.

"Got it! Haha!" I moved to join the Doctor. "Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of the spaceship, here we go . . . hold on . . ." he whacks the computer screen. "Come on!" he shows me the graphic on the screen. "That's the spaceship on its way to Earth . . . see? Except . . . hold on . . . see, the spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed."

"That means it came from Earth in the first place – it went up and came back down, right Doctor?" I asked him, looking over my shoulder to him.

"Fantastic, Jessamine! Absolutely correct. Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived. They've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?" the Doctor said crossing his arms.

JPTD

In the cabinet room, the alien who was previously inside the body of Oliver is now finishing putting on the skin suit of the General Asquith.

"What do you think? How's the compression? I think I've got too much ballast round the middle . . ." he farts, "Ah, that's better." From the cupboard, Harriet eyes widen with shock and confusion.

"We've really got to fix the gas exchange. It's getting ridiculous." Margaret said.

"I don't know, it seems very human to me. Ah, better get rid of his skin. . ." Asquith picks up the discarded skin of Oliver.

"Shame! I quite enjoyed being Oliver. He had a wife, a mistress, and a young farmer." He makes towards the cupboard where Harriet is standing. She retreats further to the back. He opens the door and chucks the skin inside. He looks back at Margaret and Joseph. "God, I was busy." They laugh. He shuts the door again.

"Back to work!" Joseph cheered.

"I have an army to command!" Asquith sounded like a child in a candy store.

"Careful now . . ." they leave the room, their voices retreating. Harriet picks up the discarded skin of Oliver, and examines it. Indra rushes up to Margaret, Asquith and Joseph.

"General Asquith! Sir – we've had a priority alarm. It's code nine confirmed code nine." Harriet hurries out of the cupboard.

"Code nine, huh? Which would mean . . .?" Margaret gives a small and apologetic laugh while Joseph shakes his head behind him.

"Well, in the event of the emergency protocols being activated . . . we've got software that automatically searches all communications for key words. And one of those words is 'Doctor'. I think we've found him, sir." Indra said to them.

"What sort of Doctor? Who is he?" Margaret asked.

"Well, evidently he's some sort of expert in extra-terrestrial affairs, the ultimate expert! And we need him, sir. We need him here right now!" Harriet pulls a face.

JPTD

The Doctor was switching the television from the channel to channel, with Mickey standing beside him.

"How many channels do you get?" he asked.

"All the basic packages." The Doctor replied.

"You get sports channels?" I rolled my eyes at Mickey.

"Yes, I get the football." The Doctor looks back at the screen. "Hold on, I know that bloke."

"It is looking likely that the government is bringing in alien specialists – those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space."

"**UNIT**! United Nations Intelligence Task force – good people." The Doctor said to me.

"How do you know them?" I asked.

"'Cos he's worked for them. Yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet . . . and in the history books, and there's his name. Followed by a list of the dead." I looked over to Mickey with a blank face.

"That's nice. Good boy, Rickey." The Doctor said sarcastically.

"He's a hero, Mickey." They both snapped their heads towards me, I was looking at the screen. "And being a hero, you have one true companion forever, Death. Every single firemen, policemen, hospital workers, anyone that helps save lives has a list of the dead with a list of the saved. So next time you open your mouth, think before you say something stupid again." I looked at the Doctor from the corner of my eye, to see another unreadable expression. "If you know them, why don't you go and help?"

"They wouldn't recognize me. I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover . . . and eh, better keep the TARDIS out of site. Rickey! You've got a car – you can do some driving." The Doctor walks towards the TARDIS door.

"Where to?!" Mickey asked following him.

"The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship." We stepped out of the TARDIS to the sounds of helicopters – we were immediately spotted out by a searchlight.

"Do not move!"

Police cars and soldiers surround us, pointing guns at us, preventing any possibility to escape. Mickey makes a run for it. Mum and Rose run out of the flats and they try to get to me but four soldiers restrain them.

"No!" my mum shouted. Mickey was hiding behind some dustbins. The Doctor and I were standing in the centre looking slightly confused in the searchlight.

"Raise your hands above your heads! You are under arrest!" the Doctor and I obeyed.

"Take me to you leader!" I heard the Doctor cheer, I face palmed.

"Really?!" I hissed to him as I climbed into the back of the police car next to the Doctor. The door shuts and we are driven off. "'Take me to you leader.' Of all things to say, you say that. Of course you would say that." I crossed my arms and kick the passenger seat that's in front of me, making the man in it glare at me. "Getting arrested isn't exactly undercover, Doctor."

"We're not being arrested, we're being escorted!" he said excitedly to me.

"Escorted? What, to Downing Street?" I asked. The Doctor starts laughing. "You're kidding."

"I'm not!"

"10 Downing Street?"

"That's the one!" I laugh with glee.

"Oh, my God! I'm going to 10 Downing Street?" the Doctor nods, grinning. "How come?"

"I hate to say it, but Mickey was right. Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been, uh – noticed." He shrugged at me.

"Now they need you?" I asked.

"Like it said on the news –they're gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who's the biggest expert of the lot." He grins at me expectantly.

"Patrick Moore?" I asked teasingly.

"Apart from him!" he exclaimed.

"Ah, don't you just love it!" I giggled.

"I'm telling you, Lloyd George – he used to drink me under the table. Who's the Prime Minister now?" he looked around the car and out the windows.

"How should I know? I missed a year." the car pulled up outside 10 Downing Street. The paparazzi and hundreds of police men are there. The Doctor gets out of the car and waves at them all, grinning manically. I frown at them, even in this life I still hate paparazzi. I looked up at 10 Downing "Oh my God!" I muttered under my breath. I followed the Doctor inside.

JPTD

Jackie and Rose were walking to three police officers.

"So, she's alright then? She's not in any trouble?" Rose asked them.

"Well, all I can say is, your sister/daughter and her 'companion' might be in a position to help the country. We'll need to know how she made contact with this man – if he is a man." The chief policeman sits down with a loud grumble from his stomach. "Oh! Right – off you go then. I need to talk to Miss and Mrs. Tyler on my own, thank you." The other two police officers exit the flat.

JPTD

I watched as a woman entered the room were all the alien experts are standing around talking, waiting for the meeting to begin. I saw her flash an ID card at the policeman standing guard at the door.

"Harriet Jones – MP – Flydale North." She begins to mingle with the others, until a young man enters the room.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, could we convene? Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right and can I remind you, ID cards are to be worn at all times." The man approaches the Doctor and I, he gives the Doctor an ID card. I stared at it, getting the same ill feeling I got from the silver egg spider thing. "Here's your ID card. I'm sorry, your companion doesn't have clearance."

"I don't go anywhere without her." The Doctor loops the ID card around his neck. I yanked it off of him quickly, the Doctor raised an eyebrow at me.

"You're the code nine, not her." The guy gave me a confused look. The woman from before sidles up to us. "I'm sorry, Doctor . . . it is the Doctor, isn't it? She'll have to stay outside."

"She's staying with me." The Doctor argued.

"Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there. I can't let her in and that's a fact." He pointed to the meeting room. I turned to the Doctor.

"It's alright, you go, just . . . don't wear the ID card." I said to him. The woman appeared at the guys shoulder. "Excuse me? Are you the Doctor?" the guy looks positively exasperated. "Not now, we're busy – can't you go home?"

"Are you sure and why not?" the Doctor asked me.

"Yeah, they're the experts, you should hear what they've got to say. It's just a bad ill like feeling, like I got from the spider thing on platform one." I looked up at him, "Don't wear it, please."

"Alight, I s'pose so. Don't get into any trouble." The Doctor follows the other experts into the room.

"I just need a word in private." The woman said to the guy.

"You haven't got clearance, now leave it!" he takes my arm. "I'm going to have to leave you with security." He begins to lead me away.

"It's alright. I'll look after her. Let me be of some use." She takes me away from the guy. "Walk with me. Just keep walking . . ." we walked pasted the guards at the door, "That's right . . . don't look round! Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North." She shows me her ID card.

JPTD

The experts are sitting down in their seats. Joseph and Asquith make their way to the desk at the front. The Doctor enters last and takes a seat at the back of the room, reading the booklet he finds on the chair extremely quickly.

JPTD

Harriet and I were outside the corridor talking.

"This friend of yours . . . he's an expert, is that right? He knows about aliens?" she asked me, sounding upset and distressed.

"Why do you want to know?" Harriet broke down into tears. I took her arms awkwardly in an attempt to comfort her.

JPTD

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to have your attention please. As you can see from the summaries in front of you, the ship had one porcine occupant –" the Doctor interrupted Asquith.

"Now, the **REALLY** interesting bit happened three days ago, see, filed away under every other business. The North Sea – the satellite detected a signal, a little blip of radiation at one hundred fathoms like there was something down there . . . you were just about to investigate and the next thing you know, this happens – spaceships, diversion – from what?"

JPTD

Harriet brought me to the cabinet room and was showing me a body that looked like a suit.

"They turned the body into a suit! A disguise for the thing inside!" she burst into tears again. I inwardly groan, _'Tears, I hate tears.'_

"It's alright! I believe you. It's alien, they must have some **SERIOUS** technology behind this . . . if we could find it . . ." I start rummaging around the room, ". . . we could use it." I open a cupboard and a body falls out. Harriet and I hurry to examine it. "Oh, my God! Is that?" the guy from before enters.

"Harriet, for God's sake! This has gone beyond a joke – you cannot just wander –"he spots the body on the floor. "Oh, my God! That's the Prime Minister!"

JPTD

The Doctor is still lecturing the experts, Asquith, and Joseph.

"If aliens fake an alien crash and an alien pilot, what do they get?" there's a pause as he works it out. "Us. They get us. It's not a diversion, it's a trap."

JPTD 

"Ohhh!" Harriet, the guy, and I turn to see an overweight woman enter the cabinet room. "Has someone been naughty?" we all look at each other. The woman shuts the door behind her.

JPTD

Rose and Jackie go into the kitchen. Jackie starts talking to Strickland, while starting to make tea.

"It was bigger on the inside. I dunno, what do I know about spaceships?"

"Nothing." Rose muttered a bit rudely. Jackie snapped her a look, making her look apologetic at her mother.

"That's what worries me. You see, this man is classified at 'trouble'. Which means that anyone associated with him IS trouble." He looks at Jackie and Rose through the hatch, he retreats back into the living room. "And that's my job." He takes off his hat to reveal a zip on his forehead. "Eliminating trouble." He starts to undo the zip, filling the room with a blue light.

JPTD

"That's impossible. He left this afternoon. The Prime Minister left Downing Street, he was driven away!" the guy panicked.

"And who told you that? Hmm?" she walks over to the baffled man, I pulled him back behind me. "Me." She strokes the hair from her forehead.

JPTD

"This is all about us." The experts all look intrigued. "Alien experts – the only people with knowledge how to fight them gathered together in one room." Joseph farts. The Doctor raises his eyebrow and fixes him with a pointed look. "Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?"

"Would you rather silent but deadly?" Asquith and Joseph snigger. The Doctor stares at them. Asquith takes his hat off and undoes the zip on his forehead while Joseph laughs manically. Asquith pulls the skin suit down and reveals the Slitheen inside. The Doctor stares at him, transfixed.

JPTD

The woman pulls of her skin, revealing herself to the disgust and shock of Harriet, the guy, and I.

JPTD

Jackie pauses halfway through making the tea. The flickering blue light is filling the whole flat. Rose gets off the counter she had hopped up on and walks tentatively to the kitchen door.

JPTD

Asquith finishes shrugging off his skin suit. Joseph is still cackling evilly.

JPTD

Rose, now framed in the doorway of the kitchen, beholds the alien. Her eyes widen with shock. She takes deep breaths.

JPTD

The woman is now entirely out of her skin suit. She stands before us, all of us looking astounded.

JPTD

Asquith, also out of his skin suit, straightens up and addresses the room.

"We are the Slitheen."

JPTD

The woman roars in delights and grabs at me, I threw up a quick protego. I made us walk backwards towards the door.

JPTD

The Slitheen advances on Rose and Jackie, they scream and back against the counter, sinking against it as the Slitheen raises his claw to strike.

JPTD

"Thank you all for wearing your ID cards." Joseph takes a remote out of his pocket, "They'll help to identify the bodies." He presses a button. Everyone in the room but the Doctor, is bathed in electric light. The Doctor wince as he pulled out the ID card from his pocket.

JPTD

I wince as the alien hits at the shield, making me reinforce it but also making me pant for breath.

JPTD

Jackie and Rose scream as the alien prepares to strike, Jackie brings Rose into her arms.

JPTD

The Doctor looks up to Joseph and the Slitheen, they looked back at him in shock and confusion.


	6. World War Three

The Doctor looked back to the ID card, then back to Joseph and the Slitheen.

"Deadly to humans, maybe." He plunges it into the chest of the Slitheen. Both Joseph and the Slitheen howl with pain.

JPTD

The alien is suddenly covered in electricity, I drop the charm and stared at it. I turn to look at Harriet and man behind me.

"I'm sorry, what's your name?" I asked him.

"Indra." He looked a bit green, I nodded.

"Well, Indra, Harriet . . . RUN!" I shouted.

JPTD

In the kitchen, the alien who was attacking Jackie and Rose is also suffering.

JPTD

The Doctor dashes to the door, past the bodies.

JPTD

I grabbed Harriet's and Indra's hands and run from the room, both of them whimpering slightly, I was probably looking a bit straight face.

JPTD

Jackie and Rose are still crouched on the floor in horror, watching the alien screeching in pain. Mickey appears in the doorway.

"Jackie! Rose!" he whacks the alien over the head with a chair, he grabs Jackie's and Rose's arms and pull them out of the kitchen. He pauses in the doorway to take his phone out of his pocket and snap a picture of the alien. He grins and then runs to join Jackie and Rose.

JPTD

The Doctor finds security all gathered in reception.

"Oi! You want aliens – you've got them. They're inside Downing Street." The Doctor claps his hands, "Come on!" he leads them in the direction of the conference room, their guns at the ready.

JPTD

Joseph finally manages to deactivate the weapon, and the electricity disappears. He picks up the skin suit of General Asquith.

"Reinstate my disguise! Hurry up! Hurry! Hurry!" Joseph hastens to help the Slitheen into the skin suit.

JPTD

We're all running down a corridor.

"No, wait!" we stop, "They're still in there! The emergency protocols! We need them!" Harriet runs back in the direction of the cabinet room. I follow her, dragging Indra behind me, but we're quickly forced to change direction as the alien comes our way. She chases us. We run across a hallway, I close the door behind us, but the alien simply leaps through it. We arrived back in another room, shutting the doors behind us again.

JPTD

The Doctor leads security into the meeting room, where Joseph is making the finishing touches to Asquith's skin suit. They both stop when they see the Doctor and security standing there.

"Where've you been?" security starts checking the bodies for any sign of life. "I called for help, I sounded the alarm. There was this . . . lightening! This kind of er . . . um . . . electricity, and they all collapsed!"

"I think they're all dead." Sergeant Price said.

"That's what I'm saying. He did it!" Joseph points at the Doctor, "That man there!"

"I think you will find the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise." Joseph folds his arms skeptically. The Doctor looks at the policeman next to him, "That's never going to work, is it?"

"Nope."

"Fair enough." He runs for it. Security is hot on the Doctor's tail, and he soon finds himself surrounded. He puts his hands in the air, grinning.

"Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorize you to execute this man!" security ready's their guns.

"Uh, well, now, yes. You see, eh . . . the thing is . . . if I was you, if I was going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, between you and me, little word of advice . . ." the life behind the Doctor pings open. "Don't stand them against the lift!" he back into the lift and closes the door with the sonic screwdriver.

JPTD

The alien is still chasing us. I kick open a locked door. The lift pings open, revealing the Doctor. The alien roars at him, and all he does is smile and nods around at all of us. I rolled my eyes. _'He would.'_

"Hello!" he said pleasantly. The door shuts again, distracting the alien long enough for us to slip away unnoticed. We find ourselves in a room with all the doors locked, basically a dead end.

"Hide!" I yelled softly to them. Harriet hides behind a Chinese folding screen, Indra behind the curtains, and I hide in front of a table that behind a couch. The hiding spots were extremely poor spots to hide.

JPTD

The lift pings and the Doctor steps out on the second floor.

JPTD

Asquith and security are still standing next to the lift they backed the Doctor against.

"I repeat, the upper floors are under quarantine. You will stay where you are. You will disregard all pervious instructions. You will take your orders directly from me." The lift pings. Joseph and Asquith step into it.

"Mr. Green sir – I'm sorry but you've got to come with me. We should evacuate the entire building." Sergeant Price said.

"Sergeant – have you uh – read the Emergency Protocols?" Joseph asked.

"No, sir."

"Then don't question me." Joseph steps back into the lift, "Seal off number 10 secure the ground floor – and if the Doctor makes it downstairs – shoot on site!" he shut the doors. The sergeant turns to face the others.

"Well, you heard him! Move out!" they do so. The sergeant follows them.

JPTD

"Let the sport begin." Joseph farts.

"I'm getting poisoned by the gas exchange. I need to be naked!"

"Rejoice in it! Your body is . . . magnificent." They both undo the zips on their foreheads.

JPTD

The alien enters the room we're hiding in.

"Oh, such fun! Little human children . . . where are you? Sweet little humeykins . . . come to me . . . let me kiss you better . . ." the thing said playfully. I bolted from my hiding spot behind the table to take refuge behind the curtains with Indra. ". . . kiss you with my big, green lips." It hisses. I hear Indra whimper softly, I grab his hand and give it a gently, reassuring squeeze.

JPTD

The Doctor runs down a flight of stairs, hearing the Sergeant barking orders in the distance. Then he hears the lift ping, and hastily backtracks and hides in a crevice next to the door. The two Slitheen walk past.

"We'll keep this floor quarantined as our last hunting ground before the final phase." The Doctor waits until they are out of sight.

JPTD

"My brothers." The she-alien spoke. _'There's more of these things!'_

"Happy hunting?" one asked her.

"It's wonderful. The more you prolong it, the more they stink."

"Sweat . . . and fear." Harriet's mouth drops open with horror and Indra whimpers again.

"I can smell an old girl . . . stale bird . . . brittle bones."

"And two ripe youngster. All hormones and adrenaline. Fresh enough to bend before they snap." The she-alien sweeps the curtain aside revealing Indra and I, both of us scream. Harriet jumps out from her hiding place.

"No! Take me first! Take me!" the Doctor crashes in and blasted a fire extinguisher in the aliens faces.

"Out! With me!" I pull the curtains down over the she-alien head and then grabbed Indra hand again and ran to the Doctor with Harriet following. The Doctor looks at Harriet and Indra. "Who the hell are you?"

"Harriet Jones – MP for Flydale North." She flashes her badge again.

"Indra." He whimpered from behind me.

"Nice to meet you both." The Doctor said.

"Likewise." Harriet said, Indra just nodded. The Doctor blasted the fire extinguisher again. Then we run for it.

"We need to get to the cabinet rooms!" the Doctor yelled to us.

"The Emergency Protocols are in there! They give instructions on aliens!" Harriet told him.

"Harriet Jones – I like you." I rolled my eyes.

"And I like you too."

"Oi! It's nor the time or place to be flirting, Doctor!" I yelled up to him as we run, the Doctor bypasses a locked door with his sonic screwdriver and the aliens pursued us all the way back to the cabinet room. By the time we got there, we didn't have time to close the door, I watched as the Doctor picks up a bottle of brandy and hold his sonic screwdriver to it.

"One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof! We all go up. So back off." The aliens hesitated. "Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?" so that's what they're name was.

"They're aliens." I rolled my eyes at the obvious, Harriet stated.

"Yes. I got that, thanks." The Doctor said a bit sarcastically.

"Who are you, if not human?" one of the male Slitheen asked.

"Who's not human?" Indra asked me.

"He's not human." I pointed at the Doctor's back.

"He's not human?" Harriet repeated.

"Can I have a bit of hush?" the man in questioned asked.

"Sorry." Harriet said.

"So – what's the plan?"

"But he's got a Northern accent." Indra whispered.

"Lots of planets have a North." I said repeating what the Doctor told me when we first met.

"I said hush. Come on!" he holds the brandy threateningly out in front of him. "You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government – what for? Invasion?"

"Why would we invade this God forsaken rock?" I think it was the other male this time that spoke.

"Then something's brought the Slitheen race here – what is it?" the Doctor asked.

"'The Slitheen race'?" one male asked.

"Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer Day Sliteen at your service." Alright, that was a long hell of a name to remember, I'm just going to call them 'Thing 1' and 'Thing 2'.

"So, you're family?" I asked from behind the Doctor.

"It's a family business." Thing 1 said.

"Then you're out to make a profit. How can you do that on a 'God forsaken rock'?" the Doctor asked.

"Ahhh . . . excuse me? Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability . . .?" Thing 2 asked the Doctor.

"Is that what I said?" face meet palm.

"You're making it up!"

"Ah, well! Nice try. Harriet, have a drink. I think you're gonna need it." He offers her the brandy.

"Pass it to the left first." Harriet said.

"Sorry." He hands it to me.

"Thanks." I said dryly.

"Now we can end this hunt . . . with a slaughter." Thing 2 flexes his claws menacingly. The Doctor folds his arms.

"Don't you think we should run?" Indra ask. The Slitheen shuffled forward.

"Fascinating history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mr. Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the cabinet room – if the cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain." He presses a switch near the door, "End of lesson." Every entrance to the room is immediately blocked by metal shutters. The Doctor turns to us. "Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in."

"And how do we get out, madman?" I asked, there was a pause.

"Ah." My face met my palm, again.

JPTD

"He is safely contained. Now, cut off communications inside that room, then summon the family, it's time we finished with this insane planet for good!" they make to leave.

JPTD

Rose, Jackie, and Mickey emerge from a side door of the block of flats. They run stealthily across the yard to avoid detection from the policeman who still surrounding the building. They remain unnoticed.

JPTD

"And there's still no word from inside Downing Street, though we are getting even more new arrivals." The reporter looks around as another fat man gets out of a car outside Downing Street. "That's group Captain Tennant James of the RAF – though why he's been summoned, I've no idea." Another man emerges from a car. "And that's ah . . . Ewan McAllister. Deputy Secretary for the Scottish Parliament. And this is most unusual!" a fat woman makes her way to 10 Downing Street. "I'm told that is Sylvia Dillane – chairman of the North Sea Boating Club. Quite what connects these people, we have no idea."

JPTD

Margaret comes down the stairs and greets Tennant James.

"Group Captain – delighted you could make it. We're meeting upstairs." He farts. "That's the spirit. Off you go." Ewan McAllister stands in front of her – she shakes his hand. "Good to see you!" she nods pleasantly at Sylvia. "Come on through!"

Asquith stops the Sergeant as he goes past.

"Ah! Sergeant – now that the Doctor's been neutralized, the upper levels are out of bounds – to everyone."

"Then who are they?" he nods towards the three newcomers who are now going up the stairs.

"Ahh, Sergeant. I want you to liaise with communications – the acting Prime Minister will be making a public address. He will speak to the nations of the world." He walks off, leaving the Sergeant looking bewildered and confused.

Margaret was showing her family into a room.

"There you are – if you'd just like to go through and get changed." She ushers Sylvia into the room and grabs a coat hanger on her way to the other door. She takes a skin suit from an emerging Slitheen. "Now, if you'd like to head down to the end corridor, it's first on the left."

"Thank you." Margaret hangs the skin suit up.

JPTD

Rose, Jackie, and Mickey were in Mickey's kitchen. Mickey was holding a kettle.

"Have you got anything stronger?" Jackie asked.

"No chance, I've seen you when you've had a few – this ain't time for a conga." Mickey said.

"We've gotta tell someone." Rose said as she sits down.

"Who do we trust? For all we know, they've all got big bog monsters inside of them. I mean, this is what he does, Rose, Jackie." He brandishes a couple of mugs at them in his enthusiasm. "Everywhere he goes – death and destruction, and he's got Jessa in the middle of it."

"Has he got a great big green thing inside him, then?" Jackie asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him." He takes a bottle of milk from the fridge. "But like it or not, he's the only person who knows how to fight these things."

"I thought we were gonna die." Rose bursts into tears. Mickey gives her a quick hug.

"Come on, yeah? If anyone's gonna cry, it's gonna be me. Now, you're both safe in my flat, Rose, no one's gonna look for you here, especially since you hate me so much." Mickey said fixing the tea.

"You saved our life. God, that's embarrassing." Jackie looked away from him.

"You're telling me." They all laughed slightly.

"He wanted us dead. And he's still out there, Mickey . . ." Rose stands, "That policeman . . . that thing . . ."

JPTD

Strickland sniffs the air. He turns to another policeman behind him.

"Right – you head off. You're in full control, I've got one or two things that still need doing. I haven't quite finished with Mrs. and Miss. Tyler yet . . ." the other police officers nod and get in the car.

JPTD

Joseph goes up to Margaret who is adjusting the skin suit on the hangers.

"Is that all of us?" he asked.

"All the family except Sit Fel Fotch. He's found a hunt of his own." She told him.

"Ah!" they smile and he walks off.

JPTD

The Doctor drags the Prime Ministers body into a cupboard and crosses his hands over his body.

"Sorry." He strides back into the room. "Right, what have we got? Any terminals? Anything?"

"No. The place is antique. What I don't get, is when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?" I asked.

"He's too slim – they're big old beasts, they need to fit inside big humans." The Doctor said.

"But the Slitheen are about 8 feet, how do they squeeze inside?" I pointed out.

"That's the device around their necks – compression field – literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas, its big exchange." He said.

"Rose could use a compression field, she could fit a size smaller." I muttered low enough that only Harriet heard.

"Excuse me, people are dead, this is not the time for making jokes." She scolded me.

"Sorry . . . you get used to this stuff when you're friends with him." _'And when you're the Mistress of Death.'_ I left that unsaid, no need to cause more panic. I indicated to the Doctor, who was busy scanning the walls with his sonic screwdriver.

"Well, that's a strange friendship." Harriet said to me.

"You've no idea." I said back to her.

"Harriet Jones – I've heard that name before – Harriet Jones. You're not famous for anything, are you?" The Doctor asked.

"Huh! Hardly!"

"Rings a bell, Harriet Jones . . ." the Doctor looked as if he was struggling to remember something.

"Lifelong back bencher I'm afraid, and a fat lot of use I'm being now – the protocols are redundant, they list the people who can help and they're all dead downstairs." Now that she mention it, my head was killing me.

"Hasn't it got like, defense codes and things? Cen we just launch a nuclear bomb at 'em." Harriet and I stare at Indra.

"You're a very violent young man . . ." she said.

"I'm serious! We could!" he banged his fist on the table, making me jump at the sudden sound and action.

"Well, there's nothing like that in here. Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it's kept secret by the United Nations." The Doctor stops scanning the mantelpiece with his sonic screwdriver to listen.

"Say that again." he told her.

"What, about the codes?" she asked.

"Anything. ALL of it."

"Um, well . . . the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a special resolution from the UN." Harriet said.

"Like that's ever stopped them." I scoffed, crossing my arms.

"Exactly, given our past record – and I voted against that, thank you very much. The codes have been taken out of the governments hands and given to the UN." The Doctor was in deep thought. "Is it important?"

"Everything's important." He said.

"If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted. Listen to me, I'm saying 'Slitheen' as if it's normal." Harriet sat down at the table.

"What do they want, though?" I asked.

"Well, it's just one family so it's not an invasion. They don't want Slitheen world . . . they're out to make money, which means they want to use something, something here on Earth . . . some kind of asset." The Doctor said.

"Like what? Gold? Oil? Water?" Harriet list of a couple of things.

"You're very good at this." I rolled my eyes at them.

"Thank you." She said pleased. My phone goes off.

"Oh! That's me." I take my phone out of my pocket.

"But we're sealed off – how did you get a signal?" Indra asked.

"He zapped it! Super-phone." I looked to the caller ID.

"Then we can phone for help! You must have contacts." Harriet said to the Doctor.

"Dead downstairs, yeah."

"It's Mickey." I told the Doctor.

"Oh, tell your stupid best mate we're busy." The Doctor said rudely.

"Yeah, he's not so stupid after all." I hand him my phone. Mickey had sent me a photo of the Slitheen in my kitchen.

JPTD

Mickey, Rose, and Jackie enter Mickey's bedroom, Mickey checking around the door first. He's on the phone with Jessa.

[No, no, no, no, no, - not just alien, but like, proper alien. All stinking, and wet, and disgusting. And more to the point, it wanted to kill us!]

[We could've died!] Mickey gestures violently at Jackie and Rose.

_[Are they alright, though? Don't put them on, just tell me.]_

JPTD

The Doctor snatches the phone from me.

[Is that Rickey? Don't talk, just shut up and go to your computer.]

_[It's Mickey. And why should I?]_

[Mickey the Idiot – I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but eh – I need you.] I smiled.

JPTD

Mickey was on the UNIT website.

[It says password.]

JPTD

The Doctor put my mobile into a speakerphone.

[Say again.]

_[It's asking for the password.]_

[Buffalo – two Fs, one L.]

JPTD

Jackie puts down three cups of tea on the computer desk.

"So, what's that website?" Mickey finishes typing in the password and turns to her and Rose as the page loads.

"All the secret information known to mankind." He puts the phone down and on speaker.

JPTD

_[See, they've known about aliens for years, they just kept us in the dark.]_

[Mickey, you were born in the dark.]

JPTD

_[Oh, leave him alone.]_

[Thank you. Password again.]

_[Just repeat it, every time.]_ Mickey types it in again.

JPTD

"Big Ben – why did the Slitheen hit Big Ben?" the Doctor asked.

"You said to gather the experts – to kill them." Harriet said.

"That lot would've gathered for a weather balloon, you don't need to crash land in the middle of London." He retorted.

"The Slitheen were hiding – and then they put the entire planet on red alert, why?" I asked thinking what they would do it for.

JPTD

[Oh, listen to her.] Rose sneered.

JPTD

[At least I'm trying, Rose!] I sneered back at her, she's been on my case ever since I came back.

JPTD

[Well, I've got a question if you don't mind. Because since that man walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets. I have had creatures from hell in my own living room, and my oldest daughter's disappeared off the face of the Earth.] Jackie gave Rose a look.

JPTD

[Mum, I told you what happened.]

_[I'm talking to him. 'Cause I've seen this life of yours, Doctor. And maybe you get off on it. And maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me. Just answer me this – is my daughter safe?]_

JPTD

Mickey looks around at Jackie, then back to Rose, sharing a look.

JPTD

The Doctor stared intently at my phone.

[I'm fine, mum.]

_[Is she safe? Will she always be safe? Can you promise me that?]_ The Doctor glances up at me, I looked back at him. We just stared at each other. _[Well, what's the answer?] _I looked towards the phone.

[Mum, I've lived my whole life trying to support you and Rose, it's time that I need to learn how to live a little for myself now.] it went quiet after that.

JPTD

Mickey takes the phone away from Jackie, breaking the moment.

[We're in.]

JPTD

Let off the hook, the Doctor rushed around the table.

[Right then – on the left, there's a tab – an icon – little concentric circles – click on that.]

JPTD

[What is it?]

_[The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it's transmitting that signal, now hush, let me work out what it's saying.]_

[He'll have to answer me one day.]

"Hush!" Mickey gestured violently at her.

_[It's some sort of message.]_

[What's it say?]

_[Don't know – it's on a loop, keeps repeating.]_ Mickey's doorbell rings. _[Hush!]_

[That's not me.] He looks to Rose, "Go and see who that is."

"It's three o'clock in the morning." She said.

"Well go and tell them that." Rose gave him a look as she gets up. Mickey shakes his head.

_[It's beaming out into space, who's it for?]_ The doorbell rings more persistently.

"Alright!" Rose yelled. She opens the door to reveal Strickland.

"Miss. Tyler." Rose slams it shut again and runs back to Mickey's room squealing.

"It's him! It's the thing, it's the Slickeen!" she yelled to her mum and Mickey.

[They've found us.]

_[Mickey, I need that signal.]_

_[Never mind the damn signal, mum, Rose just get out! Get out! Get out!]_ Mickey picks up a cricket bat.

[We can't, it's by the front door.]

JPTD

Outside the front door, the Slitheen takes his body suit off.

JPTD

Rose, Mickey, and Jackie see the blue light shining beneath the cracks around the door.

[Oh, my God. It's unmasking. It's gonna kill us.]

JPTD

"There's got to be some way of stopping them!" Harriet turned to the Doctor, "You're supposed to be the expert, think of something!"

"I'm trying!" he shouted.

JPTD

The Slitheen makes worrying noises from outside.

"I'll take it on, Jackie, Rose. You both just run. Don't look back. Just run." Mickey squares himself in front of the door.

JPTD

On the phone, we could hear the Slitheen smash the door in.

"That's my mother and sister."

"Right! If we're going to find their weakness, we need to find out where they're from – which planet. So, judging by their face and shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!" the Doctor yelled to us.

"They're green." Indra said. I just stared at the phone.

"Yep, narrows it down."

"Uh, good sense of smell." He said. I sunk down in a seat at the table, _'They're in trouble and I'm stuck here.'_

"Narrows it down."

"They can smell adrenaline." Indra pointed at the Doctor.

"Narrows it down."

"The compression technology." Harriet jumped in.

"Narrows it down."

"The spaceship in the Thames – you said slipsteam engine?" I felt something push at my walls in my head. I ignored it.

"Narrows it down."

JPTD

The Slitheen punches a hole through the door.

[It's getting in!]

JPTD

"They hunt like it's a ritual." I finally spoke up.

"Narrows it down." The Doctor said.

"Wait a minute! Did you notice, when they fart – if you'll pardon the word – it doesn't just smell like a fart – if you'll pardon the word – it's something else, what is it, it's more like uh . . . um . . ." Harriet began, I looked at her as the thought hit.

"Bad breath!" I exclaimed.

"That's it!" Harriet said happily.

"Calcium decay! Now that narrows it down!" the Doctor said with glee.

_[Too late!]_ I stared at the phone in horror, covering my mouth with my hands.

"Calcium phosphate, organic calcium, living calcium, creatures made out of living calcium, what else, what else – hyphenated sodium – yes! That narrows it down to one planet! Raxacoricofallapatorius!" The Doctor shouted.

JPTD

[Oh, yeah, great. We could write 'em a letter.] The Slitheen kicks half the door down and begins to step through it.

_[Get into the kitchen!]_ They all back into the kitchen. They slam the door, trying to bar it shut with a chair and a dustbin as the Slitheen throws its weight against it.

"My God, it's going to rip us apart!" Jackie yelled.

JPTD

"Calcium, recombined with compression field – ascetic acid. Vinegar!" the Doctor said.

"Just like Hannibal!" Harriet exclaimed.

"Just like Hannibal." The Doctor nodded to her, [Mickey, have you got any vinegar?]

_[How should I know?]_

[Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf.] The Doctor looks at me, "What?!"

JPTD

Rose snatches the phone from Mickey.

"Give it here." She put the phone to her ear, [What do you need?]

_[Anything with vinegar!]_ Rose grabs a jug and opens the cupboard.

[Gherkins!] The Slitheen is poking holes in the door with its claws. [Yeah! Pickled onions!] She adds them to the jug. Mickey has the bat raised ready. [Picked eggs!]

JPTD

"Your sister kissed this man?" the Doctor said to me.

"Oh, just leave it alone!" I hissed at him, shocking him.

JPTD

The Slitheen finally kicks down the door and enters the kitchen. Jackie, Rose, and Mickey back against the counter. Rose chucks the vinegar all over it. There was a few seconds of silence and then it explodes, splattering the whole room, Jackie, Rose, and Mickey with green goo.

JPTD

Having heard the bang, we all breathe a sigh of relief.

JPTD

Mickey lowers his bat.

JPTD

"Hannibal?" I asked Harriet.

"Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar." She explained.

"Oh. Well, there you go then." We raised our glasses in toast, I took a sip before spitting it back in the glass. "Ugh!" I grimace sticking my tongue out. Everyone let out a few chuckles.

JPTD

Downstairs, Asquith approaches Joseph.

"He's dead. Sip Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day Slitheen is dead."

"I felt it. How could that happen?" Joseph asked.

"Somebody must've of got lucky."

"That's the last piece of luck anyone on this rock will ever have." Joseph and Asquith walk out of the doors of 10 Downing Street, to address the crowd outside. He faces the camera. "Ladies and Gentlemen – Nations of the World – Human Kind. The greatest experts in extra-terrestrial events came here tonight. They gathered in the common cause. But the news I bring you now is grave indeed."

JPTD

Mickey, still wiping the goo off himself with a towel, comes into the living room to watch Joseph on the TV.

"The experts are dead. Murdered – right in front of me by alien heads. People of the Earth, heed my words. These visitors do not come in peace." Mickey takes the phone off Jackie.

[Listen to this.] He holds the phone to the TV.

"Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction, capable of being deployed within 45 seconds."

JPTD

The Doctor, Harriett, Indra and I crowded around the phone, listening to him.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"Our technicians can – baffle – the alien probes. But not for long. We are facing extinction. Unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg the United Nations – pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes! A nuclear strike at the heart of the ship is our only chances of survival. Because . . . from this moment on . . . it is my solemn duty to inform you . . . planet Earth is at war."

"He's making it up. There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it." The Doctor told us.

"Do you think they'll believe him?" Harriet asked.

"They did last time." I said.

"That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle. They want the whole world panicking, because you lot – you get scared, you lash out." The Doctor began.

"They release the defense codes . . ." I looked at him, worried.

"And the Slitheen go nuclear." He finished with a nod.

"But why?" Indra asked. The Doctor open the metal shutters. The Slitheen are still standing outside the door.

"You get the codes, release the missiles. But not into space because there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth, they retaliate, fight back. World War Three – whole planet gets nuked." The Doctor explain to the Slitheen. Margaret, still in her skin suit, stands before the Doctor.

"And we can sit through it in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed. Just parked. They'll be two minutes away." She said.

"But you'll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?" Harriet asked.

"Profit. That's what the signal is beaming into space – an advert." I said in realization, I moved to stand beside the Doctor.

"Sale of the century. We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it. Piece by piece. Radioactive chucks capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel." I move closer to the Doctor in repulse at what she was saying. The Doctor put an arm around my shoulders.

"At the cost of 5 billion lives." He glared at her.

"Bargain." I went rigid at her slight as well did the Doctor.

"Then I give you the choice – leave this planet or I'll stop you." The Slitheen all burst out laughing.

"What? You? Trapped in your box?" The Doctor does not look remotely abashed. He stares her out.

"Yes. Me." Margaret laughs again, but nervously. The Doctor fixes her in his gaze and closes the shutters. The smirk fades from Margaret's face.

JPTD

London is almost completely deserted.

"Yesterday saw the start of a brave new world. Today might see it end. The streets are deserted. Everyone's home – just waiting. As the future is decided in New York."

"It's midnight here in New York. The United Nations has gathered. England has provided them with absolute proof that the massive weapons of mass destruction do exist. The security counsel will be making a resolution in a matter of minutes."

JPTD

Mickey picks up the phone from the top of the TV.

"And once the codes are released, humanity's first interplanetary war begins." Jackie is holding Rose to her as they watch the TV, biting her nails, scared and anxious.

JPTD

Inside 10 Downing Street, Margaret and Asquith make to go up the stairs as Joseph pauses at the bottom to talk to the Sergeant.

"Sergeant. We'll take the call in the Prime Minister's office. Maintain the oppositions. Good luck." They shake hands. Asquith pats him genially on the shoulder, and the Sergeant resumes his post at the bottom of the stairs. Margaret, Asquith, and Joseph bundle their way into the Prime Minister's office, all insanely excited.

"Oh! Look at that! The telephone is actually red." She blows it a kiss. Joseph sits down behind the desk, farting as he does so.

"How long 'til they phone!" he exclaimed, excitedly.

"Counting down . . .!"

JPTD

Jackie gets back on the phone.

[Alright, Doctor. I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do.]

JPTD

"If we ferment the porch, we could make ascetic acid." Harriet said.

[Mickey, any luck?] I asked.

_[There's loads of emergency numbers – they're all on voicemail]_ I looked towards the Doctor as he stands quietly with his arms folded, leaning against the wall away from us. He looked deep in thought. I bit my bottom lip and turn away, wrapping my leather jacket around me tightly.

"Voicemail dooms us all." Indra grumbles. My lips twitched a bit at that.

"If we could just get out of here." Harriet said.

"There's a way out." I turned to face him, incredulously.

"What?"

"There's always been a way out." The Doctor shrugged.

"Then why don't we use it?" I asked. The Doctor strides over to the table and leans over to speak into the phone.

[Because I can't guarantee your daughter will be safe.] He said to mum.

_[Don't you dare. Whatever it is, don't you dare.]_

[That's the thing, if I don't dare, everyone dies.] I stared at him hard.

"Do it." The Doctor looks up at me.

"You don't even know what it is, you'd just let me?" he asked.

"Yes." I said simply. The Doctor just stares at me.

_[Please, Doctor. Please! She's my daughter, she's just a kid!]_

[Do you think I don't know that? Because this is my life, Jackie, it's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will.]

"Then what're you waiting for?" I asked softly. The Doctor looks up at me again.

"I could save the world but lose you." We stare intensely into each other's eyes for a long moment until I grabbed one of his hands in mine and gave him a shy smile.

"Except it's not your decision, Doctor. It's mine." We both looked over towards Harriet.

_[And who the hell are you?]_

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people, for the people, and on behalf of the people I command you. Do it." She demanded. The Doctor looks back at me and grins.

JPTD

Joseph, Margaret, and Asquith are still waiting for the phone to ring.

"Victory . . . should be naked!" he unzips his forehead. The other two follow suit.

JPTD

I jump onto the table.

"How do we get out?" I asked. The Doctor opens the briefcase containing the emergency protocols.

"We don't. We stay here." He opens the emergency protocols.

JPTD

In New York, the newsreader receives new information through her ear piece.

"The counsel is voting. The results should be known any second now."

JPTD

The Slitheen finish removing their skin suits.

JPTD

The Doctor shuffles through the protocols then turns to address Mickey.

[Use the buffalo password, it overrides everything.]

JPTD

Mickey types the password in. Jackie and Rose watches him.

"What're you doing?" Rose asked. As though he can't quite believe what he's saying.

"Hacking into the Royal Navy." He pauses for a moment, [We're in. Here it is, uh . . . H.M.S. Taurean, Trafalgar Class Submarine, 10 miles off the coast of Plymouth.] Jackie stands, agitated.

_[Right, we need to select a missile.]_

[We can't go nuclear, we don't have the defense codes.]

_[We don't need it, all we need is an ordinary missile. What's the first category?]_

[Sub Haffoon, UGMA4A.]

_[That's the one. Select.]_ Jackie walks up behind Mickey.

"I could stop you." Mickey turns to her.

"Do it, then."

_[Ready for this?]_ Mickey and Jackie stare at each other for a few more seconds with Rose watching them from the couch, but Jackie doesn't move.

[Yeah.] He looks back at the screen. Jackie sits back down beside Rose and brings her in close to her.

_[Mickey the Idiot. The world is in your hands. Fire.]_ Breathing heavily, Mickey screws up his eyes and clicks the Fire button.

JPTD

Ten miles off the coast of Plymouth, a missile launches itself out of the sea.

JPTD

"Oh, my God." Jackie and Rose breathe. The missile is shown on the screen.

JPTD

Harriet taps the steel shutters.

"How solid are these?" she asked.

"Not solid enough, built for short range attack, nothing this big." The Doctor said.

"Alright. Now I'm making the decision. We're gonna ride this one out." I open the cupboard door. "It's like what they say about earthquakes, you can survive 'em by standing under a doorframe. Now this cupboard's small so it's strong. Come and help me! Come on!" Harriet and Indra hurry to help me.

JPTD

The missile soars over the sea.

JPTD

"The vote is in. The counsel says . . . yes. They are releasing the codes."

JPTD

The Slitheen family are now all gathered around the phone.

"Ring, damn you!"

JPTD

Mickey is still staring at the computer screen.

[It's on radar. Counter defense 556.]

_[Stop them intercepting it.]_

[I'm doing it now.]

_[Good boy.]_ Mickey taps a few keys.

[556 neutralized.]

JPTD

The Doctor rips the mobile off speaker phone.

JPTD

Downstairs, the Sergeant rushes to a computer terminal, looking over the operator's shoulder.

"What do you mean, 'incoming'?" the operator points at the screen where the missile shows up on radar.

JPTD

The missile soars over London.

JPTD

The Sergeant smashes the glass on the fire alarm, which goes off.

"Everybody out! Now! Get out!" Everyone runs to the door.

JPTD

The Slitheen family hear the alarm.

"What the hell is that for?" the Sergeant burst in.

"Sir, there's a missile!" the Slitheen all look round at him. ". . . Sorry." He runs out again.

JPTD

The missile soars past Mickey's flat. Jackie and Rose run out onto the balcony to watch it.

JPTD

Two of the female Slitheen are fighting over Margaret's skin suit.

"That's mine!"

"No, mine!" the others are all struggling to get back inside their skin suits.

JPTD

A hoard of security guards run out of the door of 10 Downing Street. The Sergeant fires a gun into the air.

"Everybody run!" Everyone runs. He looks up into the sky to see the missile making straight for 10 Downing Street.

JPTD

We all bundle into the cupboard. We crouch in a corner, Indra and Harriet on the Doctor's right and me on his left.

"Nice knowing you all." We all hold hands. "Hannibal!" they brace themselves as I projected out a protego around us.

JPTD

The second before the missile hits, the Slitheen all look up.

"Oh, boll-" the missile hits. The whole of 10 Downing Street explodes in flames.

JPTD

We are all severely shaken around in the cupboard even with the protego charm, then it stops. The place is in ruins, smoking, when we emerge from the wreckage. Harriet looks around.

"Made in Britain." The Sergeant hurries over to us.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Harriet flashes her ID card at him.

"Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact UN immediately, tell the ambassadors the crisis is over and they can step down. Go on, tell the news!"

"Yes, ma'am." He hurries away again.

"Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out. Oh, Lord! We haven't even got a Prime Minister!" Harriet exclaimed.

"Well, maybe you should have a go." The Doctor said.

"Me?" Harriet laughs. "I'm only a back-bencher."

"I'd vote for ya!" I said.

"Now, don't be silly." The Doctor and I grin. "Look, I'd better go and see if I can help. Come on, Indra." They both climb over the rubble towards the crowd of people. The Doctor beams at me. "Hang on!" Harriet shouts over to the crowd. "The Earth is safe! Sergeant!" The Doctor and I walk together.

"I thought I knew the name." He watches her hurry over to the cameras and ambulances. "Harriet Jones – future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms – the architect of Britain's Golden Age."

"The crisis has passed! Ladies and Gentlemen – I have something to say to you all!" The Doctor and I watched her fondly from a distance, then we turn and walk away. Harriet speaks to the camera. "Mankind stands tall, proud, and undefeated. God bless the human race."

JPTD

I enter my flat, and was greeted with a huge hug from my relieved mum and sister. We all closed our eyes, happy to be together again.

JPTD

The Doctor enters the TARDIS, looking very pleased with himself. He starts the engines and grins up at it.

JPTD

Rose and I were sitting on the couch on front of the TV, watching a repeat of Harriet Jones' speech.

"Mankind stands tall, proud . . ." Mum comes in.

"Harriet Jones. Who does she think she is? Look at her! Taking all the credit. Should be you on there." She said contemptuously, "My daughter saved the world!" Mum addresses the TV.

"I think the Doctor helped a bit . . ." I said to her.

"Oh, alright then. Him too. You should be given knighthoods." She sat down.

"That's not the way he does things. No fuss, he just . . . moves on. He's not that bad if you gave him a chance, mum." I looked towards her.

"He's good in a crisis, I'll give him that." She huffed.

"Oh! Now the world has changed, you're saying nice things about him." I tease.

"Well, I reckon I've got no choice! There's no getting rid of him since you're infatuated." I stared at her with wide eyes, my face flushing a bit.

"I'm not infatuated." I said, unconvincingly. Rose nudges me in the side.

"Yes, you are!" she teased. I glared at her.

"I am not!"

"Are too!

"Am not!"

"You so are, Jessa!" she changes her voice to sound like me, "Oh, Doctor!" she fakes swoons. I push her off the couch, making her land hard on the floor. "Ouch!"

"That's what you get, Blondie." I huffed at her. She just glares and sticks her tongue out at me, "Real mature, little sis, real mature." Mum just tutted at us.

"What does he eat?" she asked, I looked over to her confused.

"How do you mean?"

"I was gonna do shepherd's pie." Rose and I snigger. "All of us. A proper sit down. 'Cause . . . I'm ready to listen. I wanna learn about you and him and that life you lead. Only, I dunno, he's an alien. For all I know, he eats grass and safety pins and things."

"He'll have shepherd pie. You're gonna cook for him?" I asked, she rarely cooked for Rose and I growing up, I had to cook for us.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked.

"He's finally met his match." I said.

"You're not too old for a slap, you know." I giggled. Mum gets up and goes to the kitchen. "You can go and visit your gran tomorrow." My mobile rings. "You'd better learn some French. I told her you were in France. I said you were au-pairing." The caller ID on the screen reads 'TARDIS calling' complete with a little TARDIS icon. I answer.

[Hello?]

_[Right, I'll be a couple of hours, then we can go.]_

[You've got a phone?] I asked incredulously.

_[You think I can travel through space and time and I haven't got a phone.]_ He laughs contemptuously. _[Like I said, couple of hours . . . I've just got to send out this dispersal.]_ I could hear him push a button. _[There you go. That's cancelling out the Slitheen's advert in case any bargain hunters turn up.]_

[My mother's cooking.] I moved into my room and shut the door behind me. I flop down on my bed and stare up at my star painted ceiling.

_[Good! Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer.] I laughed a bit at that._

[She's cooking tea. For us.]

_[I don't do that.]_

[She wants to get to know you.]

_[Tough! I've got better things to do!]_

[It's just tea.]

_[Not to me it isn't.]_ I closed my eyes tight for a moment. It was never just tea for me either.

[She's my mother.]

_[Well, she's not mine.]_

[That's not fair!]

_[Well, you can stay there if you want!] _He paused for a moment_. [But right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the horse head nebula.]_ I listen to him intently. _[Fires are burning 10 million miles wide. I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of it then ride the shock wave all the way out – hurtle right across the sky and end up anywhere. Your choice]_ he hangs up. I end the call slowly and press the phone to my lips, deep in thought.

JPTD

The Doctor pauses for a second and then goes back to the console.

JPTD

Jackie comes back into the living room with two cups of tea. Rose having got hers and left to her room.

"Jessa, I was thinking . . ." Jessa's seat was empty, so Jackie walks in the direction of Jessa's bedroom instead. "I've got that bottle of Amaretto from New Year's Eve, does he drink?" Jackie opens the door to Jessa's bedroom, revealing the TARDIS blue walls and star painted ceiling that's cover in sketches of pictures. Jessa was stuffing some checkered shirts and black leather jeans into a bag, Jackie watches her. "I was wondering whether he drinks or not."

"No, he doesn't drink, like me mum." She answered. She continues stuffing the clothes into the bag.

"Don't go, sweetheart." Jackie said quietly. Jessa stops for a moment and looks around at her. "Please don't go." Guiltily, Jessa starts to pack her art supplies.

JPTD

Its night time and Mickey was sitting reading a newspaper on a bin outside the TARDIS. The small boy who graffiti'd the TARDIS the previous day is now busy cleaning it off again. the Doctor pokes his head around the door.

"Good lad. Graffiti that again and I'll 'ave ya. Now, beat it." The little boy scurries off. The Doctor grins. Mickey glances after him. The Doctor walks over to Mickey.

"I just went down the shop. And I was thinking, you know, like the whole world's changed. Aliens and spaceships all in public. And here it is." He shows the Doctor the front page of the newspaper, headlined 'Alien Hoax?" the Doctor gives a small smile. "How could they do that? They saw it!"

"They're just not ready. You're happy to believe in something that's invisible, but if it's staring you in the face – nope! Can't see it! There's a scientific explanation for that. You're thick." The Doctor said. Mickey laughs.

"We're just idiots."

"Well, not all of you."

"Yeah?" Mickey asked surprised.

"Present for you, Mickey." He hands Mickey a disc. "That's a virus. Put it online, it'll destroy every mention of me. I'll cease to exist."

"What do you want to do that for?"

"Even though with what Jessamine said, you're right. I am dangerous. I don't want anybody following me." in the background, Jackie, Rose and Jessa emerge from the flats.

"How can you say that and then take her with you?" Mickey gestures at Jessa.

"You could look after her. Come with us." The Doctor said, though in his mind he didn't want to.

"I can't. This life of yours . . . it's just too much, I . . . I couldn't do it." As the girls approached, "Don't tell her I said that."

"I'll get a proper job. I'll work weekends, I'll pass my test and if Jim comes round again, I'll say no. I really will." Jackie pleaded to Jessa.

"I'm not leaving 'cos of you. I'm travelling, that's all. And then I'll come back!" she said.

"But it's not safe."

"Mum . . . if you saw it out there . . . you'd never stay home." Jessa turns to the Doctor, taking her backpack off her shoulders.

"Got enough stuff?" he asked sarcastically.

"Last time I stepped in there, it was spur of the moment." She throws the enormous bag into the Doctor's arms. "Now I'm signing up. You're stuck with me. Haha." Jessa goes up to Mickey. Jackie looks at the Doctor up and down. "Come with us. There's plenty of room." Jessa said to Mickey. He gestures to the Doctor.

"No chance, he's ah, a liability, I'm not having him on board." The Doctor thought up.

"We'd be dead without him." Jessa argued.

"My decision is final." Jessa turns back to Mickey. "Sorry." They hugged briefly. Mickey gives a small wave as she backs away.

"Good luck, then." He said. Jessa smiled sadly before turning to Rose and giving her a hug as well. Jackie rounds on the Doctor.

"You still can't promise me. What if she gets lost? What if something happens to you, Doctor, and she's left all alone standing on some moon a million light years away – how long do I wait then?" the Doctor stands there hugging Jessa's backpack, not really having an answer, but Jessa comes to his rescue.

"Mum." Jackie spins around to face her. Jessa bit her lip, nervously. "Mum, it's time for you to let me go, just for a while. You know me, I'll be okay. It is a time machine, so I could go travelling around suns and planets and all the way out to the edge of the universe and by the time I get back, ten seconds would have passed." Jessa puts her hands on Jackie's shoulders, smiling kindly. "So stop worrying. See you in ten seconds time. Hmm?" she hugs her. The Doctor steps into the TARDIS, Jessa follows him. Mickey and Rose give a small wave and Jessa shuts the door, leaving them alone outside. The TARDIS dematerializes. Jackie keeps her eyes on her watch as they stand in silence.

"Ten seconds." She and Rose walk back to the flats. Mickey settles himself back on top of the dustbin with the newspaper.

JPTD

I go and sit in the jump seat, watching the Doctor dig through the grates looking for something. I jump when he gives a victory shout once he found what he was looking for. He tosses everything back in and closes the grate, then walks over to me holding out a thick book. He looked at me expectantly, I reached out and took the book. I looked at the cover that said 'The Doctor's Journal'. I looked up at him with a confused look.

"What's this for, Doctor?" I asked. He shuffled his feet around for a bit.

"If I get to read about your past and then get to question you, then you should get to read about my past and get to question me. It only seemed fair." He mumbled looking away from me, but I could see the faint blush on his cheeks. I smiled gently down at the book.

"Thank you, Doctor. That's very sweet of you." I said, I got up from my seat and placed a quick kiss on his cheek before going to my new bedroom that the TARDIS made for me, it was an exact copy of my room at home. The Doctor watched me leave as he placed an hand on his cheek.

"It's no problem." he whispered in the empty control room before he plopped down in the empty seat and brought out the first book. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone, huh." he began to read.


	7. The Book talk

The TARDIS showed me down the hallway that led towards my room. I could tell she was showing off for me, she'd not only lighted the way but she made signs that said "10 feet to your room" or "Turn left here". I was laughing the whole way there.

"You're absolutely crazy!" I giggled to her.

"You've met my Thief, would you expect anything less?" she answered back with a giggle of her own. I looked up at the ceiling, curious.

"Why do you call the Doctor "Thief"?" I could feel her smile at me.

"Because he stole me. He was younger when he did so." I nodded, that sounded like something the Doctor would do. A few seconds later, I was greeted with a dark brown door that had my name in gold calligraphy. Painted on each side of my name was a Big Bang lily, my favorite flower. I reached a hand out and lightly touched the painted flower, it felt so life-like. It was like there were two actual real flowers on my door. I placed a gentle hand on the glass door knob and turned it, while covering my eyes with my other hand. The TARDIS already told me that she made my room exactly like my room on earth but I still wanted to be surprised. I stepped into the room and shut the door behind me. "Oh! Uncover your eyes already, sweetheart!" I laughed at the TARDIS impatience.

"Alright, alright!" I slowly uncovered my eyes and open them. My hands flew up to my mouth in shock, not only was the room like the room that my dad painted for me for my third birthday but it also had things from my past life as Jessa Potter. The star painted ceiling was an actual real starry sky. The TARDIS blue paint was even more beautiful with the ceiling. The furnishing was the same dark brown as the door. The bed was a canopy like the ones at Hogwarts, its sheets and curtains were silver silk. I was given a little art studio in the right hand corner of the room. Leaning on the wardrobe was a replica of my Firebolt, hanging on the wall were both my Gryffindor school uniform and seeker uniform in glass cases. There were actual pictures from my life as Jessa Potter hanging all over the place and pictures of my life as Jessa Tyler. A few tears escaped my eyes. I put a hand on a wall and moved it in circles. "Thank you so much . . . ah, what should I call you?" I asked the TARDIS.

"My Thief calls me Sexy, sometimes." I snorted at that.

"I'm sure he does. How about Des?" I smiled as she squealed in excitement.

"I love it!" what I didn't know was that another person had named her that the first time they met each other. I started to unpack my things and put them in place. I hung my artwork everywhere and anywhere I could. There were drawling's of my past life, of nine very odd men, of crazy aliens, of a beautiful locket, and of a woman, all of which I would dream about. This woman hair and clothes changed to match the nine men outfits, unlike the man who completely changes. I frown as I look at her pictures, I could never get her face features right just her eye and hair colour. Once I was done unpacking, I flopped back onto my bed. I looked over to my left to stare at the Doctors journal. I reached over and picked it up, bringing it up over my face to read it. When I opened it, the pages were blank. I sat up quickly, I flipped through a few more pages they were all blank.

"It's blank." I looked up to the ceiling, "Des, his journal is blank." For a moment I thought I felt the TARDIS release a tear, but what would she be sad about? Suddenly gold particles appeared in front of me. It looked like a whole galaxy of gold, it floated gracefully and twirled in front of my eyes. It showed me life, death, laughter, and suffering. Images flashed in my head like long lost memories of my Doctor, at least not yet. I saw a boy, slight with a wiry grin. I saw him age and change into a tall man with small shoulders. _'Oh, you clever boy,'_ I thought. It was the Doctor, but not. In a whirlwind, the man threw open the doors and turned in awe.

"Aren't you beautiful!" his voice rimmed with elation. There were yells and he snapped his head back to the blue doors before slamming them shut. "Let's go see the universe, shall we?" he laughed and he pulled a silver lever down with all his might.

The scene changed and so did the man. The TARDIS ricocheted violently and sparks flew. He gritted his teeth and his eyes were wild with fear.

"Come on now!" he screamed. He then sprinted to the doors and when they open, a violent burst of orange and sick yellow light flashed. His yell was heart wrenching and he crumpled in the open doors, sobbing into his hands.

"Stop!" I screamed, tears rolling down my cheeks, "Please, no more." I sobbed. I felt like my whole world was torn apart the moment I saw that burst of light. I felt empty and sad, l felt like I lost something but I had no idea why I felt like that. I looked down and saw that the book was still open, quickly I shut it and put it in my nightstand drawer. I shut the drawer and moved over to my art desk, trying to get as far as possible from the book for now. I wiped my eyes dry and blew my nose in a hanky. After I had calmed down, I took a piece of sketching paper and started to draw the locket again. It was shaped like a star, gold in colour with a white diamond in its center. This time I drew it open, for the first time ever since I started drawling it. There were two butter colour lights streaming out from the open locket, with weird circles in them. There was an inscription on the outside of the locket on the back but this time in English.

"To Banu, the greatest adventure of my life. All my love, Theta." The locket belonged to the mysterious changing girl and whoever Theta was, loved her very much. It reminded me of my John. I sighed at the thought of him, was he doing okay? How was he dealing with my sudden death? How was Harry dealing with it? All these questions ran through my head but I did what I had to do and I wouldn't have change my decision if I was given the chance to. Of course I missed them, I mean John and Harry were my world so I had to protect them. I got another piece of sketch paper out and started to draw John hold Harry for the first time after he was born at St. Mungo's. I made sure to make his hair have just the right amount of floppiness, I lightly drew his nonexistent eyebrows or what he liked to call "delicate", and I made sure that his chin was big and pointy as if it could poke an eye out. I laughed to myself at that as I drew on his beloved bowtie. When it was finished I put it in the special folder I had just for John and Harry. There was a knock at the door and soon the Doctor's head poked in.

"Ello." He came into my room and sat on my bed, "Ooh, I like it."

"Thank you but Des did most of the work." I shrugged with a smile.

"Des?" he question with an unreadable look on his face.

"Oh, sorry. I gave the TARDIS an actual name that didn't start with S and end with Exy." I teased him, laughing when his face went red. "So, I'm guessing you finished reading the books then?"

"Yes, I 'ave." he nodded. I took a deep breath.

"So, question time then." I got up from my desk chair and sat on the bed, getting comfortable for a long talk. "Alright, what question do you have first?" I asked him as I lean back on the headrest. He sat back against one of the poles at the end of the bed.

"Was there really that much tension between you and this Malfoy character? Is that even his real name? Poor child." The Doctor shook his head.

"Why does everyone say that?" I asked.

"Well because it's a wee bit obvious." I rolled my eyes.

"Ugh. Yes, we had a thing but –"

"Oooohhh goodie! Extended edition!" the Doctor exclaimed, interrupting me. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Ok, no. Nope, no more Harry Potter for you." I shook my head at him.

"But why? I made popcorn!" I burst out laughing as he took a bag of popcorn out of his jacket pockets.

"Let me guess, bigger on the inside pockets?" I asked with a bright smile. He winked at me. "I'm surprised you didn't ask about the Dursley's first." I told him. His expression went dark with anger.

"Those type of people are the reason why the world's best stop." I looked at him confused.

"Stop what?" I asked.

"Growing, trying, shining. Nothing makes me more sad." He looked away for a moment before looking back at me, "But you stayed there, evening though they hated you. Why?"

"I had to, really. The blood wards protected me from Tom till I turn seventeen but they didn't protect me from inside the house, only the outside." I explained, "My mother's love protected me from Tom but so did the horcrux, well it did until I destroyed it."

"I liked Dumbledore. I understand him." I smiled at that.

"I liked him too. He was like a crazy grandpa." I looked off, remembering all the good and happy memories I had with Albus. The Doctor moved off the bed and walked over to my pictures of John, Harry and I together.

"This is your husband and son?" he asked turning back to look at me.

"Yes." I got up and stood beside him. "He was twenty when we met, I was almost eighteen. It was at St. Mungo's after the war was over when we met. I was severely injured but was running on adrenaline. He was just a Healer-in-training but everyone was needed that day. He was so clumsy and embarrassed because of it, I found it cute and told him so. He turn such a bright red I thought I'd have to get him a Healer. After that we hit it'd off, we were friends for a year before we even began to date. We got married and nine months later our son was born." The Doctor stared at me from the corner of his eye.

"Do you know how they are now?" I blinked and wiped a corner of my eye with my left palm.

"No, I wonder everyday though. I know Mione is keeping an eye on them though so they may be completely bored, but safe." I chuckled. I smiled sadly at John's and mine wedding photo. We were smiling at each other so happily in love. "I hope he finds someone." I said softly. "Harry needs a mother."

"I'm sorry. Is that why you're called Harry here?" The Doctor brought out of one the books, I nodded.

"He's bound to have adventures of his own, but it makes me feel closer to him." I brushed my fingers across the spine.

"Did they know that you were going to do what you did?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I couldn't. John would have stopped me, I had to keep them safe."

"Who was after you?" my green eyes narrowed.

"Monsters." My voice was sharp like a blade.

"Monsters?" he asked confused.

"My people. They wanted the Earth to themselves and all magical beings. They were going to get rid of the Muggles, so I stopped them." I crossed my arms.

"By sacrificing yourself!" I turned to the Doctor in shock at his raised voice.

"Yes. It was for the greater good, Doctor. My sacrifice saved hundreds and hundreds of people in one day. By walking through the Veil, I was not only willingly sacrificing myself but my magic as well. Every magical being would become Muggle, if Magic did not deemed them worthy to use it for good." I glared at him.

"Magic is a person?"

"Of course it is. And for some reason Magic chose me as one of her favorite magical child and gave me powerful magic and whatnot, and that I was willing to give that all up just to save people I would never know made her proud of me. She came to Mione and me propositioning us with the ritual and condition." I sat down in my desk chair again. "We agreed of course, we just got done with one war and we didn't want another one, all that we asked was that she let our families keep their magic which she happily agreed to."

"Did you even think about all that you were giving up?" the Doctor leaned a hip on my desk.

"Of course, I did. I had a week to say goodbye to everything and everyone. I had to put on a front so that they wouldn't know that I was falling apart." My eyes started to water, "I hated it, Doctor. I couldn't mourn for all the what if's that I would miss with my son and husband because I was de-age back to a baby and forgot about my past life until the death of my father." The tears started to flow. The Doctor looked ashamed as he began to wipe my tears away.

"I'm sorry. What didn't you put into the books?" he asked softly.

"That I had a younger twin brother actually." He looked at me in shock.

"Well, go on!" I smiled slightly.

"His name was Jackson Ryan Potter, he was my best friend and the best little brother any girl could have. He was quite the flirt, Jack. Anything that was gorgeous and walked on two legs was up for grabs to him. He passed away at the end of our fifth year though." I sniffed.

"How?" he asked.

"When Sirius went through the Veil, Remus could only stop one of us and I was closest to him. That was the worst summer I ever had. The Dursley's celebrated that Jack, in their words "offed himself"." I shook my head, "I just hope that Magic was as kind to him as she was to me."

"That she sent him to another world?" I nodded.

"Jack used to call me Jessa-Ro—" I stopped in absolute shock. The face of Bo had instantly called me that even though I had never met him before but apparently we would in the future and we were important to each other. _'Could I actually be right? Jack could be alive and living in this world!'_ I started to smile at the thought.

"Hello? Earth to Jessamine?" the Doctor waved a hand in front of my face making me come back to reality.

"Sorry, he used to call me Jessa-Rose." I finished. I looked away for a moment, _'I need to find him again.'_ I look back over to the Doctor, _'He said we'd meet soon and in his first form which has to be his human form, maybe the Doctor will let him travel with us.' _I noticed the Doctor was looking at me, expectantly. "I'm sorry, did you say something?" he raised an eyebrow at me.

"I asked did you have any questions for me?" I froze. I had no idea what to do, I know I did finish his journal but I didn't want to ask about anything.

"No, I'm gonna wait until you just want to tell me. Letting someone in is a big deal, not a "I'll show you mine if you show me yours"." I answered him, I went to my nightstand and took the book out. I walk over to him and held it out to him, "I have more than a good idea that it'll explain everything to me anyway, but I want your trust first." He looked down at the journal then back at me before he pushed it back to me.

"I already do, and I want you to keep it." I look at him in shock, I was touched that he trusted me already after such short time of knowing each other.

"Are you sure?" I asked just in case. He smiled softly before leaning in and pressing a kiss close to my lips.

"Absolutely." He whispered, our eyes connected and it was like time had frozen. Suddenly there's an alarm sounding through the TARDIS, we jump away from each other in shock. I held the book tightly to my chest as the Doctor cleared his throat. "We better go check that out."

"Yeah." I answered, neither of us moved. _'What the bloody hell just happen?! I still love John . . . right?'_ I looked down at the floor, _'Could I possible be falling for the Doctor?'_ I looked back up at the man. Maybe it was time to let John go, I could never return home and even if I did John could have remarried by then. And I was happy right where I was, with the Doctor in the TARDIS getting ready to go on our next adventure. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go see what's going on." I put the book down on my bed and grab the Doctor's hand, dragging him out of my room back to the control room.

"Fantastic!" I giggled at the Doctor's childlike excitement. I let go of his hand, letting him get to work. I stood in the archway watching him. I smiled softly, it was most defiantly time for me to let go of John and move on. "Are you just gonna stand there all day or do you not want to learn how to drive the TARDIS?" he asked me. I smirked at him.

"You should know the answer to that." I moved over to him, listening and following his directions. Out of all the men I have met or seen, I'm glad that it was the Doctor that my heart had chosen for new a beginning.


	8. Dalek

Author note: Hey guys, this is a better updated of Chapter 8. Some of you have asked why Jessa isn't using her magic in some of the Chapters. The answer is that she's been living in a world where there isn't magic and so she simply hasn't been practicing or using it as much as she would have if she still lived in the magical world. So when she does use magic it makes her weak, she will start using it more as the story goes on, like the Doctor said "Baby steps." In this Chapter she didn't use it because she was too weak from all the death cause she couldn't collect the souls like she's supposed to, so if she used magic she'd would have been so weak that she'd have to be carried. So I hope that answered some of your questions. If not simply PM me and I'll try to answer the best I can without giving to much away.

[speech] – is the person calling

_[speech]_ – is the person receiving the call or talking on the opposite line

"_speech"_ – is aliens talking (some of them, like the Dalek in this one.)

"speech" – telepathy or telepathic (Like with the TARDIS and Jessa)

JPTD

The TARDIS materializes and the Doctor and I step out. I looked around in the dark room.

"So, what is it? What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Don't know, some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course . . ." We looked about ourselves.

"Where are we? And when are we?" I questioned.

"Earth, Utah, North America. About half a mile underground. The year is 2012." I stared at the Doctor.

"How would you know that we're half a mile underground?" the Doctor flicks a switch and lights flood the place. "Blimey! It's a great big museum!"

"An alien museum. Someone's got a hobby. They must've spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust . . . that's the milometer from the Roswell Spaceship." He passes the exhibits as he names them as I follow after him.

"Creepy hobby." We noticed a Slitheen arm in one case. "That's a bit of Slitheen. That's a Slitheen's arm, it's been stuffed!" I pointed at it in shock, stating the obvious as well. The Doctor notices something else.

"Ah! Look at you!" inside the glass case he was approaching, is a head of some robot. The Doctor stares through the glass at it. I stand behind him.

"What is it?"

"An old friend of mine . . . well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old." I stare at the thing, feeling like I've seen it before somewhere.

"Is that where the signal's coming from?" I asked.

"Nah, its stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out." He stares intently through the glass. "Calling for help." He places the tip of his finger gently on the glass. Immediately, an alarm goes off and we're promptly surrounded by soldiers all pointing their guns at us. I rolled my eyes.

"If someone's collecting aliens, which makes you Exhibit A." the Doctor flashes the soldiers a grin.

JPTD

A helicopter lands. Inside a corridor, men with guns line the walls. Henry Van Statten alights from a lift with a few others, they begin to walk briskly down the corridor.

"On behalf of all of us, I want to wish you a very happy birthday, sir." There's no reply. "And the President called to convey his personal best wishes."

"The President is 10 points down. I want him replaced." Van Statten said.

"I don't think that's very wise, sir . . ."

"Thank you so much for your opinion. You're fired." To the soldiers, "Get rid of him."

"Wha –?" the soldiers drag him off. Van Statten keeps on walking.

"Wipe his memory, put on the road someplace – Memphis, Minneapolis – somewhere beginning with 'M'." Another woman hastens to take Polkowski's place. "So, next President, what do you think? Republican or Democrat?"

"Democrat, sir."

"For what reason?" the woman paused.

"They're just so funny, sir?" they all stop. Van Statten looks at her.

"What's your name?"

"Goddard, sir. Diana Goddard."

"I like you, Diana Goddard." They resume walking. "So, where's the English kid?" the 'English kid' – Adam – hurries up to him.

"Sir! Sir! I bought ten more artefacts at auction, Mr. Van Statten."

"Bring 'em on. Let me see 'em."

"Sir, with respect, there's something more urgent. We arrested two intruders 54 floors down. We don't know how they got in." Goddard said.

"I'll tell you how they got in. In'tro the window. In'tro the window, that was funny!" there's a polite laugh from everyone, "Bring 'em in, let's see 'em – and tell Simmons I wanna visit my little den. Get to it." He goes through a door.

"Simmons? You'd better give me good news. Is it talking?" Goddard said into a mouthpiece.

JPTD 

Simmons attacking it with some sort of chainsaw. The thing was screaming.

"Not exactly "talking", no."

"What's it doing?" she asked.

"Screaming. Is that any good?" he applies the chainsaw again.

JPTD

A man sat at the desk while a boy Rose's age showed him some stuff.

"And this is the last . . . paid $800,000 for it." Goddard showed us in.

"What does it do?" he takes the thing from the boy.

"Well you see, the tubes on the side must be to channel something, I think maybe fuel . . ."

"I really wouldn't hold it like that." The Doctor spoke.

"Shut it." Goddard snapped at him, I raised an eyebrow. _'What crawled up her arse and died?'_

"Really, though, that's wrong." The Doctor ignored her.

"Is it dangerous?" the boy asked.

"No. Just looks silly." The Doctor holds his hand out for the artefact. Security ready their guns. Van Statten holds up a hand to stop them and hands the object to the Doctor. "You just need to be . . ." he runs his fingers gently over the artefact and it plays a note, rather like a harmonica. "Delicate." Everyone looked suitably impressed. The Doctor beams around at them all whilst playing it.

"It's a musical instrument." The man said in interest.

"And it's a long way from home." the Doctor nods.

"Here, let me." the man stands and grabs it off the Doctor, who raises his eyebrows.

"I did say "delicate". Reacts to the smallest fingerprint." The man can't make it play at first and it makes a series of bleeping noises. "It needs precision." The man touches it more gently and it plays a few notes. The Doctor smiles. "Very good. Quite the expert."

"As are you." He tosses the instrument aside, where it lands somewhere on the floor. The Doctor and the boy's eyes follow it, slight alarmed. "Who exactly are you?" The Doctor looks back at the man with a new, slightly disdainful look in his eyes.

"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?" he asked.

"Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world and you just stumbled in by mistake." I tilted my head, _'Pretty much sums this up.'_

"Pretty much sums me up, yeah."

"The question is, how did you get in? 53 floors down. With your little cat burglar accomplice." He looks at me. "Quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty." I glared at him.

"Keep looking at me like that, buddy and you won't have eyes at the end of this meeting." I threaten. The man eyes quickly went back to the Doctor.

"She's English too!" he turned to the boy, "Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy, got you a girlfriend." I glared murderously at Van Statten.

"This is Mr. Henry Van Statten." The boy said.

"And who's he when he's at home?" I asked.

"Mr. Van Statten owns the Internet." I raised an eyebrow.

"No one owns the Internet." I scoffed.

"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten said.

"So you're expert on just about everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up." I looked at the Doctor in concern.

"And you claim greater knowledge?" he asked.

"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am." The Doctor said cocky.

"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?" I looked away from them, _'We appeared there.'_

"You tell me."

"The cage contains my one living specimen."

"And what's that?" the Doctor asked.

"Like you don't know." Van Statten shot back.

"Show me." The Doctor dared.

"You wanna see it?" Van Statten dared him.

"Blimey, you can smell the testosterone." I muttered.

"Goddard, inform the Cage. We're heading down." Goddard nods. "You, English. Look after the girl. Canoodle or spoon, or whatever it is you British do. And you, Doctor with no name . . ." Van Statten stands by the lift, "Come and see my pet." I crossed my arms and glared at Van Statten as the lift doors closed. I turn my glare to 'English'.

"You try to do anything and you'll wish that Van Statten took me to the Cage." I threaten him. He backed away with wide eyes.

JPTD

Van Statten leads the Doctor to the Cage.

"We've tried everything. The creatures has . . . shielded itself but there's definite signs of life inside." He entered a code to enter the Cage. The door to the Cage opens behind him.

"Inside? Inside what?" the Doctor asked.

"Welcome back, sir. I've had to take the power down, the Metaltron is resting." Simmons said to Van Statten.

"Metaltron?" the Doctor questioned.

"Thought of it myself. Good, isn't it? Although I'd much to prefer to find out its real name." Van Statten told him.

"Here, you'd better put these on." Simmons said to the Doctor, offering him a pair of gloves. "The last guy that touched it . . . burst into flames."

"I won't touch it then." Goddard smirks.

"Go ahead, Doctor. Impress me." Goddard looks at the Doctor. With a placid expression on his face, he steps into the Cage. Van Statten steps away. "Don't open that door until we get a result." He and Goddard bend down to look at the monitor showing surveillance footage from the Cage. It is pitch dark inside, they watch the Doctor enter.

JPTD

The door shuts behind the Doctor. He looks at some of the instruments Simmons was using to torture the alien. Through the darkness, the Doctor sees a blue light giving away the alien's location in the Cage.

"Look, I'm sorry about this. Mr. Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor."

"_Doc-tor."_

"Impossible." The Doctor said in absolute shock.

"**THE** _Doctor_?" the Doctor watches, his eyes wide, his mouth slightly open. Lights suddenly come on, illuminating the Dalek. _"Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"_ the Doctor bangs on the door of the Cage, rattling it.

"Let me out!" The Doctor yells.

"_Exterminate!"_

JPTD

"Sir, it's gonna kill him!" Goddard exclaimed to Van Statten.

"It's talking!" Van Statten ignored her.

JPTD

"_You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be destroyed!"_ it waves its gun around helplessly. The Doctor stops looking terrified and his face breaks into a huge grin.

"It's not working!" the Dalek's eyepiece looks down at its gun. The Doctor laughs manically. "Fantastic! Oh, fantastic! Powerless! Look at you. The Great Space Dustbin. How does it feel?" he lunges at the Dalek. The Dalek strains against its chains.

"_Keep back!"_ the Doctor is inches from the Dalek, looking straight into its eyepiece.

"What for? What're you going to do to me?" there was silence. "If you can't kill . . . then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you?" he circles the Dalek. The Dalek follows his progress with its eyepiece. "You're nothing."

JPTD

Van Statten, Goddard and Simmons watch the proceedings, intrigued.

"What the hell are you here for?" Goddard glances at Van Statten.

JPTD

"_I am waiting for orders."_

"What does that mean?" the Doctor asked.

"_I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders."_

"Well you're never gonna get any. Not ever." The Doctor told it.

"_I demand orders!"_

"They're never gonna come! Your race it dead! You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire, the entire Dalek race wiped out in one second." The Doctor said, his voice rising.

"_You lie!"_

"I watched it happen. I **MADE** it happen!" the Doctor yelled.

"_You destroyed us?"_ the Doctor's expression changes. He walks away, his back turned on the Dalek.

"I had no choice." The Doctor admitted quietly.

"_And what of the Time Lords?"_

JPTD

Van Statten, Goddard and Simmons watch the monitor avidly. The Doctor pauses.

JPTD

"Dead. They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost." The Doctor said.

"_And the coward survived."_

"Oh and I caught your little signal . . . help me . . . poor little thing . . ." The Doctor said mockingly before resuming a normal tone. "But there's no one else coming 'cos there's no one else left."

"_I am alone in the Universe."_ The Dalek lowers its eyepiece.

"Yep." The Doctor smiles.

"_So are you."_ The Doctor's smile fades, _"We are the same."_ The Doctor spins around to face the Dalek angrily.

"We're not the same, I'm not –" the Doctor begins furious before stopping, "No – wait. Maybe we are. You're right, yeah, okay. You've got a point. 'Cos I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve." He raises his eyebrows. "Exterminate." He pulls a lever on the control panel and the Dalek is immediately engulfed by electricity. It starts screaming again.

"_Have pity!"_

"Why should I? You never did." He turns up the voltage.

JPTD

"Get him out." Van Statten told the soldiers.

JPTD

"_Help me!"_ Security burst in and grab the Doctor before he can lunge for the control panel again. Van Statten addresses the Dalek.

"I saved your life, now talk to me! Goddamn it, talk to me!"

"You've got to destroy it!" the Doctor yelled as he dragged away.

"The last in the Universe. And now I know your name. Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek." Silence, "I am Henry Van Statten, now recognize me!" silence again, he turns to Simmons. "Make it talk again, Simmons." Simmons approaches the Dalek with a greedy look in his eye. "Whatever it takes."

JPTD

Adam shows me into his workshop. I wrinkle my nose at the mess.

"Sorry about the mess. Mr. Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing. So long as I deliver the goods . . ." I prod at a few things on the surface. "What do you think that is?" he tries to hand me some metal, but I shot him an unimpressed look.

"A lump of metal." I said bored, wondering what the Doctor was doing right now.

"Um, yeah. I think, well, I'm almost certain it's from the hull of a spacecraft." He sets the lump down carefully. "The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet, spacecrafts, aliens, visitors to Earth, they really exist."

"I had no idea." I deadpan.

"I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe that the whole universe is teeming with life." I rolled my eyes at his naiveness.

"I'm gob-smacked and you do what? Sit here and catalogue it?" I asked sarcastically.

"Best job in the world." I groaned. "Imagine if I could get out there. Travel amongst the stars and see it for real. I'd give anything. But I don't think it's ever gonna happen, not in our lifetimes." I looked over at him, feeling a little guilty that I was travelling the stars and he was stuck underground probably for the rest of his life.

"Oh, you never know . . . what about all those people who say they've been inside spaceships and things and talked to aliens?" I asked jokingly.

"I think they're nutters." He smiled at me.

"Yeah, me too." We both laugh, "So, how'd you end up here?" I asked trying to make nice small talk with him.

"Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit." He answered.

"Ah, right, you're a genius." I nodded.

"Sorry, but yeah . . . can't help it, I was born clever." He boasted. I raised an eyebrow and smirked. "When I was eight, I logged onto the US Defense System, nearly caused World War Three."

"And that's funny?"

"Well you should've been there! Just to see them running about! Fantastic!" I chuckled a bit.

"You sound like the Doctor." I said.

"Are you and him . . .?" Adam asked.

"No, we're just friends." I said, _'But maybe one day we could be something more._' I smiled lightly at the thought.

"Good." Adam nods. I looked at him confused.

"Why's it good?" I asked.

"Just is." He shrugged, I nodded slowly at him.

"So, wouldn't you rather be downstairs? I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff, but Mr. Van Statten's got a living creature down there." I suggested.

"Yeah . . . yeah well I did ask but he keeps it to himself. Although, if you're a genius, it does take long to patch in on the comms system." I smiled at him.

"Let's have a look then." Adam turns to the computer and taps some keys and I observes over his shoulder.

"It doesn't do much, the alien. It's weird, it's kind of . . . useless, it's just like this . . . great big pepper pot." I looked at Adam weirdly at that. We access the screen that surveys the Cage. We watched a man approach the Dalek, if I remember correctly, and begin to torture it with one of the devices. The thing screams.

"It's being tortured! Where's the Doctor?" I asked alarmed.

"I don't know." I glared at the screen.

"Take me down there. Now." I stride from the room, _'It may be a dangerous creature but it sure as hell didn't deserve that.'_

JPTD

The Doctor, Van Statten, Goddard and the security guards step into the lift.

"The metal's just battle armour, the real Dalek creature's inside." The Doctor said.

"What does it look like?" Van Statten asked.

"A nightmare. It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered, every single emotion was removed expect hate." He said.

"Genetically engineered . . . by whom?" Van Statten asked impressed.

"By a genius, Van Statten. By a man who was king of his own little world, you'd like him." The Doctor sneered.

"It's been on Earth for over fifty years, sold at a private auction moving from onr collection to another. Why would it be a threat now?" Goddard asked.

"Because I'm here. How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?" the Doctor asked her.

"Records say it came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell to Earth on the Ascension Islands, burnt in its crater for nearly three days before anybody could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must've gone insane." She said.

"Must've fallen through time. The only survivor." The Doctor mumbled.

"You talked about a war?" She asked.

"The Time War. The final battle between my people and the Dalek race." The Doctor told her.

"But you survived too." Van Statten stated.

"Not by choice."

"This means that the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth, Doctor, there's you. The only one of your kind in existence." He said sinisterly.

JPTD

Lights flashed on, illuminating the Doctor. They've chained him up against a rack and striped his torso. Van Statten stands behind an instrument pointing at the Doctor.

"Now, smile!" the instrument runs some sort of scan over the Doctor's torso. The Doctor moans slightly in pain, grimacing. The scan image show the Doctor's ribcage with two hearts beating within it. "Two hearts! Binary vascular system! Oh, I am so going to patent this."

"So that's your secret. You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it." The Doctor breathed out.

"This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries. All it took was the right mind to use it properly. Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk, you have no idea, Doctor. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year me scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian Crater, and do you know what they found?" the Doctor looks at him angrily but questioningly. "The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course, no need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?" he smiles smugly.

"Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten? A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species, that creature in your dungeon is better then you." The Doctor explained.

"In that case, I will be true to myself and continue." He walks back to the scanner.

"Listen to me, that thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!" The Doctor exclaimed franticly.

"Nothing can escape the Cage." He runs the scan again. The Doctor writhes with pain.

"But it's woken up! It knows I'm here! It's gonna get out! Van Statten, I swear no one on this base is safe! No one on this planet!" the scan is run again. The Doctor groans in pain and throws his head back.

JPTD

Adam enters the lobby outside the Cage, followed by me.

"Hold it right there!" Adam flashes his ID.

"Level three access. Special clearance from Mr. Van Statten." We pass the man who was torturing the Dalek and enter the Cage. I stare at the Dalek. "Don't get too close . . ." I ignored him and walked slowly to the Dalek and peer into its eyepiece.

"Hello?" I asked, innocently concerned. "Are you in pain? My name's Jessa Tyler. What's your name?"

"_Yes."_ I blinked.

"What?" the Dalek raises its eyepiece.

"_I am in pain. They tortured me. But still they fear me. Do you fear me?"_ it said slowly and wearily.

"No." the Dalek lowers its eyepiece.

"_I am dying."_

"No, we can help." I told it.

"_I welcome death. But I am glad . . . that before I die . . . I met a human who was not afraid."_ I was overwhelmed with sadness and pity even though I shouldn't be.

"Isn't there anything I can do?" I asked.

"_My race is dead. I shall die alone."_ I had tears in my eyes. Something crashes behind me causing me to jump, making me trip. I caught myself on the Dalek, I quickly pulled back from it and glare at Adam for making the nosie. The place where my hand was suddenly burns bright orange. The Dalek's tone changes. _"Genetic material extrapolated, initiate cellular reconstruction!"_ it bursts out of its chains with a new lease of life. Sparks fly from it. The man enters the room.

"What the hell have you done?" he approaches the Dalek. It points a sucker at him. "Whatcha gonna do? Sucker me to death?" the Dalek proceeds to do just that. It places the sucker over Simmons face and I hear his skull cracking as it sucks inwards. Adam and I rush outside.

"It's killing him! Do something!" I said to the security guard.

"Condition red! Repeat, condition red! This is not a drill." He said over the intercom.

JPTD

Van Statten, still with the Doctor looks up, as does the Doctor, who is sweating with the pain.

"Release me if you want to live." He said wearily. The Doctor, Van Statten, Goddard and Van Statten's security guards exit the lift and enter Van Statten's office. The Doctor addresses a monitor where there is a communication link to the lobby. "You've got to keep it in that cell."

"Doctor, I'm sorry, I tripped. It's all my fault." Jessa voice floated through to him, his eyes softened but he needed to stay on task.

"I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations."

"The Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat." The Doctor told them.

JPTD

Inside the Cage, the Dalek places its sucker to the code lock and begins tp run through all the combinations.

JPTD

Adam and I stand before the door with security, who are pointing their guns at the door. In no time at all, the door opens.

"Open fire!" they shoot at the Dalek.

JPTD

"Don't shoot it, I want it unharmed!" Van Statten yelled at them.

"Jessamine, get out of there!" the Doctor yelled to her.

JPTD

The Dalek advances upon them, the bullets having no affect at all. Bywater turns to the female guard.

"De Maggio, take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job, got that?"

"You, with me." she said to us. We follow her. The Dalek approaches the screen displaying the Doctor, Van Statten and Goddard and smashes right through it. Then electricity starts to course through it. It wails as the peeling metal bends back into shape, the rust fades away. It looks perfect again.

"Abandoning the Cage, sir."

JPTD

Goddard was tapping into a computer as Van Statten and the Doctor look over her shoulder.

"We're losing power. It's draining the base. Oh, my God. It's raiding entire power supplies for the whole of Utah." She exclaimed.

"It's downloading." The Doctor said.

"Downloading what?" Van Statten asked.

"Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down."

"It's not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the entire Internet. It knows everything." The Doctor told them.

JPTD

The Dalek finally backs away from the computer.

"_The Daleks survive in me!"_ the Dalek fires its exterminator beam randomly around the room, as though to test it.

JPTD

"Sir, the cameras in the vault have gone down." Goddard said.

"We've only got emergency power, it's eaten everything else, and you've got to kill it now!" The Doctor yelled at them.

"All guards to converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately."

JPTD

We ran past another bunch of security guards, led by De Maggio.

"Civilians! Let them through!" we run out of sight. The guards point their guns ready in the direction they anticipate the Dalek will approach from.

"Cover the north wall: Red division, maintain suppressing fire along the perimeter, Blue Division hold." Bywater shouts. He's exterminated by the Dalek behind him. The guards immediately start firing at the Dalek, but the bullets melt before they can even touch the armour. The Dalek is surrounded, but it simply exterminates them, one by one, the bullets having no effect.

JPTD

"Tell them to stop shooting at it!" Van Statten told Goddard.

"It's killing them!" she told him, shocked.

"They're dispensable, that Dalek is unique. I don't want a scratch on its body work? Do you hear me? do you hear me?" he said into intercom. The sound of gunshots fade into silence.

JPTD

Every single soldier lies dead. The Dalek proceeds up the corridor.

JPTD

Goddard shows the Doctor a map of the base on the computer screen.

"That's us right below the surface. That's the Cage, and that's the Dalek." She indicates a blue light moving along a corridor.

"This museum of yours, have you got any alien weapons?" he asked.

"Lots of them, but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them." She told him.

"We've got to keep that thing alive. We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there." Van Statten suggested.

"Leaving everyone trapped with it? Jessamine is down there. I won't let that happen. Have you got that?" Van Statten stands up. The Doctor turns back to the computer screen and Goddard. "It's got to go through this area. What's that?"

"Weapon testing."

"Give guns to the lawyers, technicians, anyone. Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it." Goddard nods and gets up. The Doctor takes her places in front of the computer.

JPTD

I was still running but getting tired. The list was getting longer and longer, swallowing me in pain, sucking away at my energy. I find myself at the foot of a flights of stairs. It could still get up them but it was our only choice. Adam runs up behind me.

"It's coming! Get up!" De Maggio said joining us. We run up the stairs and look over the banisters to watch the Dalek. It stops at the foot of the stairs. Adam breathes a small sigh of relief. It runs its eyepiece over the stairs.

"Great big alien death machine. Defeated by a flight of stairs." He said mockingly.

"Yeah, don't make this worst." I said. The Dalek's eyepiece rest on us. De Maggio still has her gun pointing at it.

"Now, listen to me. I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate, then I guarantee that Mr. Van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you and maybe that was wrong. But people have died, and that stops. Right now. The killing stops, have you got that?" the Dalek merely watches her, saying nothing. "I demand that you surrender, is that clear?" short pause.

"_El-ev-ate."_ The Dalek levitates in the air and floats up the first steps of the stairs.

"Oh my God." I breathe. The Dalek proceeds up the stairs. Adam looks gob smacked.

"Adam, get her out of here."

"Come with us, you can't stop it!" I said urgently.

"Someone's got to try. Now get out!" she pushes us away. "Don't look back, just run!" Adam and I go up the rest of the stairs. The Dalek advances. De Maggio shoots at it without avail. Moments later, Adam and I hear the sound of the exterminator beam and De Maggio's scream. We run down the corridor terrified.

JPTD

"I thought you were the great expert, Doctor." The Doctor, still staring at the monitor, doesn't answer. "If you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate, there must be something it needs, everything needs something."

"What's the nearest town?" he asked.

"Saltlake City."

"Population?"

"One million."

"All dead. If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature, that's all it needs." The Doctor said.

"But why would it do that?!" Van Statten said, furiously.

"Because it honestly believes they should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose!"

JPTD

The soldiers position themselves.

"The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home but it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through." The Doctor voiced through the intercom. The soldiers wait apprehensively. "Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's the weak spot."

"Thank you, Doctor. But I think I know how to fight one single tin robot. Positions!" they ready their guns and wait. After a few moments, Adam and I run into view, right in the middle of the open area. "Hold your fire!" we stop. "You two, get the hell out of there!" we make it outside the door the moment the Dalek slowly comes into view. We stop for a moment to watch it. The Dalek also stops, and it focuses on us. Adam grabs my hand and pulls me away, but I stop again.

"It was looking at me."

"Yeah, it wants to slaughter us!" I pull my hand away.

"I know! But it was looking right at me."

"So? It's just a sort of metal eye thing, it's looking all around!" Adam said impatiently. I shake my head.

"I don't know . . . it's like there's something inside looking at me, like . . . like it knows me." the Dalek makes its way towards the door.

"On my mark . . ." The Dalek looks up at them. "Open fire!" they all start shooting at the Dalek. Like before, the bullets have no effects.

JPTD

"We've got vision." The Doctor stands up and looks at the monitor, showing the weapons testing area.

"It wants us to see." The Dalek is looking straight at the camera, completely unperturbed by the volley of gunshots.

JPTD

The Dalek slowly levitates into the air until it's hovering near the ceiling. It fires its exterminator beam at the fire alarm, causing the fire sprinkles to rain water from the ceiling. The bullets keep coming, but the Dalek pays no heed. It aims at a man who has his feet firmly rooted to the wet ground and fires its exterminator beam at him. The rest of the team fall like flies except from the Commander and one of his men who are sheltered from the sprinklers.

"Fall back! Fall back!" the Dalek exterminates both of them and then observes the tens of lifeless forms lying on the wet ground with their useless bullet scattered on the floor.

JPTD 

There was silence in Van Statten's office. The Doctor looks down, breathing heavily in shock.

"Perhaps it's time for a new strategy, maybe we should consider abandoning this place." Van Statten said in shock.

"Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out." Goddard said quietly furious with him.

"You said you could seal the vault." The Doctor said.

"It was designed to be a bunker. In the event of nuclear war, steel bulkheads." Van Statten went to the computer.

"There's not enough power, those bulkheads are massive." Goddard told the Doctor.

"We've got emergency power, we can re-route that to the bulkhead doors."

"We'd have to bypass the security codes, which would take a computer genius!"

"Good thing you've got me, then."

"You want to help?" the Doctor asked him.

"I don't want to die, Doctor, simple as that. Nobody knows this software better than me." the screen showing the footage of the basement suddenly flashes back into life. The Dalek is still standing in the middle of the open area. At first, only Goddard notices.

"Sir . . ." the Doctor and Van Statten also look round at the screen.

"_I shall speak only to the Doctor."_ The Doctor slowly straightens up, not taking his eyes off the Dalek.

"You're gonna get rusty." He said sarcastically.

"_I fed off DNA of Jessa Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveler regenerated me."_

"What's your next trick?"

"_I have been searching for the Daleks."_

"Yeah, I saw. Downloading the Internet." He walks around the table to be nearer the screen. "What did you find?"

"_I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes."_

"And?"

"_Nothing,"_ its voice rising, it's scared. _"Where shall I get my orders now?"_

"You're just a soldier without commands."

"_Then I shall follow the primary order, the Dalek instinct to destroy! To conquer!"_

"What for? What's the point?" the Doctor asked exasperated, there was silence. "Don't you see? It's all gone. Everything you were, everything you stood for."

"_Then what should I do?"_

"All right then. If you want orders . . . follow this one: kill yourself."

"_The Daleks must survive!"_

"The Daleks have failed. Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the Universe of your filth, why don't you just die?" The Doctor said angrily, shouting the last word, spit flying from his mouth in his passionate hatred. The Dalek is silent for a few seconds.

"_You would make a good Dalek."_ The screen goes blank. The Doctor stares, dumbstruck.

"Seal the vaults."

JPTD

The Dalek elevates its way out of the room.

JPTD

Van Statten and the Doctor are busy tapping into the computer.

"I can leech power off the ground defenses, feed it to the bulkheads. It's been years since I had to work this fast." Van Statten said with a little glee.

"Are you enjoying this?" The Doctor asked.

"Doctor, she's still down there." Goddard told him.

JPTD

Adam was running up a flight of stairs in the stairwell, followed by me. My mobile rings, I take it out of my pocket and look at the caller ID, before answering it.

[This isn't the best time.] I panted into the phone.

_[Where are you?]_

[Level 49.] I grimaced in pain for a moment.

JPTD

[You've got to keep moving, the vault's being sealed off, bulkhead level 46.] The Doctor said as he worked on the computer.

_[Oh, God. Can't you stop them?]_ The Doctor looked down at the phone with a concern look at her breathless reply.

[I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run.]

JPTD

Adam and I run up the stairs, I'm starting to fall behind. The Dalek in pursuit.

JPTD

"Done it. We've got power to the bulkheads." Van Statten said.

"The Dalek's right behind them." Goddard said to the Doctor.

JPTD

Adam rounds a corner on floor 46, I'm a few seconds behind. I'm panting for breath.

[We're nearly there, give us two seconds.] I paused in the middle, gulping for air.

JPTD

"Doctor, I can't sustain the power. The whole system is failing." The Doctor looks at him. "Doctor, you've got to close the bulkheads." He pauses for a few moments, trying to summon the courage, observed by Van Statten and Goddard.

"I'm sorry." He hits the enter key.

JPTD

The bulkhead begins to lower. Adam's nearly there but I'm way to behind to make it.

"Come on!" he shouts back to me. The bulkhead is only about a foot away from the ground when Adam manages to roll underneath it. I stop in the middle of the hallway, falling to the ground. I suck in deep breath of air, tears running down from my eyes from all the pain I'm in. I stood up after a while and walked to the bulkhead door.

JPTD

The Doctor stares intently at the screen, waiting.

"The vault is sealed." The Doctor leaps out of his seat.

[Jessamine, where are you? Jessamine, did you make?]

JPTD

I lean against the wrong side of the bulkhead, taking a few steadying breaths before answering.

[Sorry, I was a bit slow.]

JPTD

Horrible shock spreads across the Doctor's face.

JPTD

I glance behind me to see the Dalek round the corner. I turn away.

[See you then, Doctor.] I had no idea if I'll make it, if the thing shot me. I'm so weak that even standing hurts. Too weak to use magic to help me out of this as well.

JPTD

The Doctor is silent, just staring, horrified.

JPTD

[It wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault. And do you know what?] My voice was trembling at the fact that I may never get to see the Doctor again not at my upcoming death. [I wouldn't have missed it for the world.] I choked up. I turn slowly around to face the Dalek as it approaches me.

JPTD

"_Exterminate!"_ the Doctor hears the sound of the death ray and he tears the earpiece off. There is a stunned silence in Van Statten's office.

"I killed her." He said blankly.

"I'm sorry." Van Statten said.

"I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry? I could've killed that Dalek in its cell. But you stopped me." he turned to him.

"It was the prize of my collection!"

"Your collection? But was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth Jessamine?" the Doctor asked furious. There was silence. "Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore. To be part of something greater."

"Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!" he stands in enthusiasm.

"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground underneath tons of sand and dirt. And label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get." The Doctor said contemptuously, full of hate. The Doctor's face, contorted with fury suddenly softens into a sad, grief-stricken expression. "And you took her down with you." He stares into space. "She was twenty-three years old."

JPTD

I had my eyes closed, ready for the Dalek to kill me. The Dalek approaches but does nothing. I open my eyes cautiously and look round.

"Go on then, kill me." there silence. "Why are you doing this?" I asked angrily.

"_I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose."_

"They're all dead because of you!" I yelled at it.

"_They are dead because of us."_ I was shaken into a short silence.

"And now what? What're you waiting for?" I asked.

"_I feel your fear."_

"What do you expect?!" I exclaimed.

"_Daleks do not fear. Must not fear."_ It shoots its death ray wildly at the wall either side of me. _"You gave me life. What else have you given me? I am contaminated!"_ it said slightly hysterical, even scared.

JPTD

Adam steps out of the lift into Van Statten's office. The Doctor rounds on him.

"You were quick on your feet, leaving Jessamine behind."

"I'm not the one who sealed the vault!" he said indignantly. The screen springs into life. It shows Jessamine standing by the Dalek's side.

"_Open the bulkhead or Jessa Tyler dies."_ The Doctor takes a few steps towards the screen, an expression of joy and relief breaking out onto his face.

"You're alive!" he exclaimed in glee.

"Can't get rid of me." she winked.

"I thought you were dead." He said to her softly.

"_Open the bulkhead!"_

"Don't do it!" she told him.

"_What use are emotions if will not save the woman you love?"_ the Doctors is stunned, Jessa shoots a shock look at the Dalek and then to the Doctor. He turns to Van Statten, who is looking at him, shocked.

"I killed her once." He goes to the computer, "I can't do it again." he hits the return key.

JPTD

The bulkhead opens and the Dalek and I slowly go through it.

JPTD

"What do we do now? You bleeding heart, what the hell do we do?" Van Statten asked desperately. The Doctor stares at him wordlessly.

"Kill it when it gets here!" Adam exclaimed.

"All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault."

"Only the catalogued ones." Van Statten turns to him, eyebrows raised. Adam looks back at him apologetically.

The Doctor is in Adam's workshop, going through a basket of Adam's un-catalogued weapons. He takes one out.

"Broken." Chucks it aside, takes another, "Broken." Chucks it aside, takes another, "Hairdryer."

"Mr. Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff, and when he does he wipes their memory. I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day."

"What, you in a fight? I'd like to see that." The Doctor scoffed.

"I could do." Adam said mildly offended.

"What're you gonna do, throw you're A – Levels at 'em?" he finds a suitable weapon. "Oh, yes. Lock and load."

JPTD

The Dalek and I are in the lift going up to Van Statten's office. The atmosphere is very tense. I watch the Dalek's exterminator arm twitch slightly.

"I'm begging you, don't kill them, you didn't kill me." the Dalek spins its eyepiece around to look at me so fast that I have to duck out of the way to avoid having my eye poked out.

"_But why not? Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?"_ the lift door opens and Van Statten is standing there, waiting.

"Don't move! Don't do anything, it's beginning to question itself." The Dalek advances on Van Statten.

"_Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?"_

"I wanted to help you, I just – I don't know, I – I was just trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you – I wanted you better, I'm sorry." He backed away, terrified. The Dalek still advances, backing him against the wall. "I'm so sorry! I swear! I just wanted you to talk!" his voice rising shrilly.

"_Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate!"_ Van Statten winces. _"Exterminate!"_ I rushed over.

"Don't do it! Don't kill him!" the Dalek spins to face me. I look right into its eyepiece. "You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else. Not just killing, what else is there? What d'you want?" the Dalek turns back to Van Statten. Then back to me.

"_I want freedom."_

JPTD

The Doctor runs up the stairs, holding the alien weapon.

JPTD

The Dalek and I are on floor 01 in the base. The Dalek fires its death ray at the ceiling, making a hole through which the sunlight floods, shining on the Dalek.

"You're out. You made it." I smile, "Never thought I'd see the sunlight again."

"_How . . . does . . . it . . . feel?"_ I was astonished as the Dalek opens up its casing to reveal a mutated creature inside. It stretches its feelers out to the sunlight. I gaze at it until a voice behind me makes me jump.

"Get out of the way." he was holding a gun, pointing it at the Dalek. I stare at him in shock. I don't move. "Jessamine, get out of the way, now!"

"No! 'Cos I won't let you do this!" I yelled to him.

"That thing killed hundreds of people."

"It's not the one pointing the gun at me." I said coldly.

"I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left."

"Look at it." I stand aside and gestured to the Dalek who feeling the sunlight.

"What's it doing?" he asked confused.

"It's the sunlight, that's all it wants!"

"But it can't . . ." his voice was shaking.

"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me, it's changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?" the Doctor finally lowers the gun. He looks completely lost.

"I couldn't . . ." he was close to tears. I stare at him. "I wasn't . . ." he looks at the Dalek, then back to me. "Oh, Jessamine. They're all dead."

"_Why do we survive?"_

"I don't know." The Doctor told it.

"_I am the last of the Daleks."_ Its speech was an effort, now.

"You're not even that. Jessamine did more than regenerate you. You absorbed her DNA. You're mutating." I looked at the Doctor stunned.

"Into what?"

"Something new. I'm sorry."

"Isn't that better?" I asked.

"Not for a Dalek." He answered.

"_I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness . . . Jessa . . . give me orders! Order me to die."_ It closes its eye. The Doctor looks from the Dalek to me.

"I can't do that." I shook my head.

"_This is not life. This is sickness."_ My face contorts with pity and disgust. _"I shall not be like you. Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!"_

"Do it." I said after a moment.

"_Are you frightened, Jessa Tyler?" _

"Yeah." I nodded.

"_So am I."_ it said feebly, _"Exterminate."_ I stumble backwards, and run to the Doctor's side as the Dalek replaces it armour. It levitates into the air and the golden knobs detach themselves to surround the Dalek in a perfect sphere. The Dalek glows briefly, and then explodes inside the sphere, vanishing into nothing. The Doctor stares at the place where it disappeared, stunned.

JPTD

Goddard walks slowly up to Van Statten, who had several guards standing behind him. She raises them and they grab him by the shoulders and push him backwards. Goddard follows them at a brisk walk.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he yelled.

"Two hundred personnel dead, and all because of you, sir. Take him away, wipe his memory, and leave him by the road someplace." She told the guards.

"You can't do this to me! I'm Henry Van Statten!"

"And by tonight, Henry Van Statten will be a homeless, brainless junkie living on the streets of San Diego, Seattle, Sacramento." She turns away with a flourish and a satisfied smile. "Someplace beginning with 'S'."

JPTD

The Doctor and I stand by the TARDIS. The Doctor has his hand on it, looking up at it pensively.

"Little piece of home. Better than nothing." He said sadly. I watched him.

"At least you have something, right?" he turns to me, I look up at Des, "I'll I have is memories. So, is that the end of it? The Time War?" I give him a fake smile.

"I'm the only one left. I win. How about that."

"The Dalek survived, maybe some of your people did too." I tried to console him.

"I'd know. In here." He gestures to his head. "Feels like there's no one."

"Well then, good thing I'm not going anywhere." I smiled for real this time.

"Yeah." He smiles back. Adam jogs up to us.

"We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared . . . they're closing down the base." The Doctor faces him with his arms folded. "Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement! Like it never existed."

"About time." I grumbled.

"I'll have to go back home." he said.

"Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at 1500 hours." The Doctor said sarcastically.

"Adam was saying that all his life he's wanted to see the stars . . ." I hinted to be nice.

"Tell him to go and stand outside, then." I smirked at that.

"He's all on his own, Doctor. And he did help." I said.

"He left you down there!" he exclaimed. I stare at him angrily.

"So did you!"

"What're you talking about? We've got leave!" Adam said again.

"Jessamine, he's a bit pretty." His eyes on me, I looked at him confused. I turn and look at Adam for a moment. I shrugged, looking back at the Doctor.

"He's alright looking, I guess. Not my type though, I like mature men not little boys." The Doctor raises his eyebrows at that with a light blush on his cheeks and turn to the TARDIS.

"On your own head."

"What're you doing? She said 'cement'. She wasn't joking, we're going get sealed in." Both the Doctor and I disappear into the TARDIS, leaving Adam standing outside. "Doctor?" he sounded genuinely concerned for our sanity. "What're you doing standing inside a box?" he pauses, "Jessa?" he peers through the doors and steps inside. The engines start up and the TARDIS dematerializes.


End file.
